By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  It took McKay until the second half of their season opener against Parkrose to open up the flood gates that was their offense in their 6-3 victory Tuesday afternoon.

Up 2-1 entering the second half thanks to goals from Maycol Olivarez (second minute) and Brain Romero (32^nd Minute), the Royal Scots dropped two goals in the opening six minutes of the second stanza to increase their lead to 4-1 46 minutes into their season.

In full control of the game, Yobeli Manzo added McKay’s fifth goal in the 52^nd minute as the Scots and the Broncos traded goals in the remaining 18 minutes and change.

For Benjamin Lopez, though he recognizes the talent that the Parkrose forwards have in putting pressure on his goalie; he was happy that his team escaped the trap that Parkrose was putting them into in the first half for what they did in the second half.

“Like I told the kids, when you play against a team like this, you kind of fall into their rhythm,” he said.  “We do have a faster pace, we do play a faster pace tempo, you kind of saw that in the second half.

“We do manage to change the situation in the second half, turning my offense into more dynamic, more power up front and that’s what we wound up doing in the second half.”

Lopez described his team as a dynamic group of kids.  Especially with his midfielders as he hopes that this feature will help McKay return to the playoffs once more in 2016.

“We have a strong dynamic midfield and I think that’s the reason we saw the result,” said Lopez.  “But I think I have a pretty good dynamic group of kids that will make a statement not only in our league, but in the State. So I think I have a pretty good team that is ready to compete against all the schools out there.”

To prepare for what is to come, to compete against the South Salem’s and the West Salem’s out there, Lopez knows it comes down to a few things:

Preparation.  Maintaining.  Attitude.

“I think it’s just a matter of having the kids believe in having them prepared,” started Lopez.  “I mean not only to compete against not only 5A schools, but 6A schools and our league, our schools that we compete against.  You face a South, you play the West those are pretty schools that only you need this kind of tempo, if we can step it up a notch, we will.

“It’s just maintaining, having a positive group of kids and positive attitude towards what is to come in later games..  It’s just telling these kids in believing that we are a pretty strong team.”

With the expectations of taking it one game at a time, having a steady lineup with his dynamic squad, Lopez is confident with what he has as his team enters their second game versus David Douglas at David Douglas High School on Thursday.

“ We’re going to have a strong, dynamic team, people are going to be talking about us out there,” said a confident Lopez.

Score         1       2  —  T

Broncos    1       2  —  3

Scots          2       4  —  6

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Photos By Jeremy McDonald