Stayton’s Alfredo Navarro and the Eagles defeat Henley 2-1 in the semifinals of the OSAA Class 4A state playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, at Sprague High School.
Stayton’s Alfredo Navarro and the Eagles defeat Henley 2-1 in the semifinals of the OSAA Class 4A state playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, at Sprague High School.
Stayton defeats Henley 2-1 in the semifinals of the OSAA Class 4A state playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, at Sprague High School.
When Freddy Navarro lined up to take a penalty kick with three minutes left in his Stayton High School’s semifinal soccer match against Henley, there wasn’t a person in the place who doubted he was going to score.
The senior forward had dug his Eagles out of a 1-0 deficit – the third time this season Stayton had trailed – by scoring a goal with eight minutes left in the match, and Navarro had all the momentum he could want behind him.
Navarro put the penalty kick into the lower right corner of the goal to give Stayton a 2-1 win against Henley in Tuesday’s OSAA Class 4A state playoff game and sends the Eagles to the state championship match for the second year in a row.
“It’s a big deal,” Navarro said. “Just really excited to be back at the state championship. I’m just really excited.”
No. 1 seed Stayton (14-0-2) advances to Saturday’s Class 4A state championship game at 1 p.m. at Liberty High School to play No. 2 seed Sisters, a 3-2 penalty kick winner against North Marion.
Stayton lost 2-0 to North Marion in the state championship game a year ago.
“It’s exciting because not very many people get to go twice in a row, to get a second opportunity to try to take first because we took second last year so getting this opportunity again is pretty good,” said Stayton defender Levi Summers.
Henley (12-2-2) had a size advantage against Stayton and used it to win a lot of the balls in the air.
Combined with speedy midfielders and Henley’s ability to move the ball up well on the wings, Stayton got few offensive opportunities in the first half, and the match was scoreless at halftime.
“I think it affected us quite a bit because they had bigger players than us,” Stayton forward Ivan Navarro said. “For them, they have some advantages like heading the ball and kind of pushing us off of the ball.”
The youth in Stayton’s defense – none of the players in the back are returning starters – showed early in the second half.
Stayton had a throw-in in their back third of the field, but it went to a Henley player, bounced between a bunch of players before Henley’s Jared Carpenter took the ball in the air and scored it from 20 yards out for a 1-0 lead.
A Stayton team that was making its fourth state semifinal appearance in the past six years didn’t panic.
The Navarro cousins pressed the ball forward more through the center of the field as the second half pressed on.
With eight minutes left Stayton sophomore Jose Gomez fed a pass from the left wing to Freddy Navarro in the center, and he put in the equalizer.
Stayton continued to push forward immediately after Navarro’s goal, and he was fouled with under three minutes left.
Of course Navarro converted the opportunity.
“It was just a matter of time before Freddy did something,” Stayton coach Chris Shields said. “He was pretty dormant. Didn’t do a whole lot. He was a little frustrated in a sense of what he was maybe given, but he wasn’t getting a lot of opportunities.
“He gets half a chance, back of the net, before you know it here we go. With Ivan out there, between the two of them it’s very difficult to defend, they’re very difficult to stop.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler
Stayton 2, Henley 1
At Sprague
HEN- Dylan Castle 48:00; STA- Freddy Navarro (Jose Gomez) 72:00; STA- Freddy Navarro (PK) 77:00.
Stayton’s Ivan Navarro heads the ball as the Eagles defeat Henley 2-1 in the semifinals of the OSAA Class 4A state playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, at Sprague High School.