By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

STAYTON, Ore.– When the whistle blew at the end of the Stayton-Philomath 4A Oregon West Conference Boys Soccer game Tuesday, there was no celebration, no cheering.

There was just the feeling of excitement in the air as the 8-0 Eagles (11-0-2, 8-0-2 OWC)  win not just sealed a loss-less season, but it gave the OSAA Number One team in Stayton it’s sixth-straight OWC-title.

“We have a lot of good kids, they work really hard,” described Stayton’s Head Coach Chris Shields.  “Most of these kids spent a lot of time in the offseason getting better.  It works out for us ultimately, we play well.

“We play well as a group and it helps out having a lot of good players like Ivan and Freddie (Navarro) to make it easier for us.”

For senior players like Freddie Navarro, they ended their last home regular season game with the knowledge of winning four of those six titles during their time as a Eagle, no one had expected to win sixth-straight.

But it’s a great feeling he said.

“It’s amazing,” he said.  “To be a part of this program, being here for four of those six conference champs, it means a lot to us.

“We’ve won it every year and number six, it’s awesome because they didn’t think we were going to win it as many times as we have.”

Stayton had the advantage offensively to start, winning the battle to the ball, getting the corner kicks and out-hustling Philomath (4-10, 4-6 OWC).

But the Eagles weren’t finishing their opportunities deep in their opposition’s territory.

“I thought we were pretty aggressive, we just didn’t finish.  The is ultimately our issue, it wasn’t like we weren’t sitting down there on their side of the field, we were sitting down there and couldn’t finish to save our lives depended on it.”

With Freddie Navarro’s 18th minute goal, the flood gates opened for the Stayton offense.

Navarro scored again in the 23rd, Ivan Navarro in the 27th, Javier Gomez and Levi Summers added goals as Ivan Navarro added his second goal as time expired as the Eagles took a 6-0 lead into halftime.

“It was very important because it motivated us to step up our game, and to play as a team, to play much better,” said Freddie Navarro on getting the team going.

Stayton continued their presence offensively as Ivan Navarro completed the Hat Trick in his final regular season home game as a Eagle in the 53^rd minute and Summers completed the “Brace” feat minutes later.

“We came out and we knew we had to play hard, for us as seniors we had to play hard,” said Ivan Navarro on his final home game.  “We just had to come out and try our hardest because we were playing for a lot.  We knew if we won, we’ll be first in league and most likely stay first in state.

PLAYOFF PREVIEW

With their focus now on soccer’s next season, Shields mentions something they need to improve on despite how they’ve played during the regular season.

“Defensively we struggled,” he said.  “You saw bits and pieces of it there (Today), we got to play better defensively against teams that have multiple players that can attack, multiple players who are skilled in the field, we’re going to have problems.

“It’s nothing we couldn’t overcome, we just need to play more organized and with more passion.”

Ivan Navarro mentioned some things from a player’s perspective.

“We create a lot of chances, we just need to finish the simple goals that we get,” he said.  “Throughout our whole team, we need to communicate better so we can get things organized.”

SCORE                      1          2          —  T

WARRIORS             0          0          —  0

EAGLES                   6          2          —  8

GOALS:  STAYTON-  Navarro, I (27’, 40’, 52’).  Navarro, F.  (18’, 23’).  Summers, L.  (37’, 73’).  Gomez, J (32’).

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81!