By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

ALBANY, Ore.–  Stayton found the back-of-the net early in the first half and frequently in the second half versus the Rebels of South Albany Tuesday evening.

Jacobe Croff and Kevin Hernandez struck first against the Rebels in the opening minutes of the Summer Game, breaking a tradition of Eagle struggles to find a rhythm all-together as Jose Navarro and the defensive back-line pitched a near-perfect first half against the aggressiveness that South Albany brought.

That aggressiveness though, threw a monkey-wrench into the mojo of Stayton in the opening half however as the strong midfield of the Rebels made the Eagles send the ball into the head-wind to their wings up front that eventually resulted in a South Albany goal to make it 2-1 at the halftime break.

However, Stayton did come out with a much improved mid-field attack that helped set up Hernandez to pick up two more goals, including a PK-goal, and David Gomez’ goal as well as the Eagles (1-0-1) soared to a 5-2 victory on the road Tuesday after a week off from action.

“I like it a lot, I like how everyone had a great positive attitude to get out here and get a ‘W’,” said Hernandez.  “Like I said first half was a little wobbly, but second half, got a 110-percent in.

“They’re a really good team, I wasn’t expecting this and I don’t think anyone else was expecting it.  (Head Coach Chris) Shields warned us that their a great team, they beat Newport 3-0 last year in the summer league, second half.  Shields gave us a little pep-talk, it finally clicked and we worked together as a team to get the final score.”

The Eagles will have another tough challenge in a Gervais squad that’s coming to Stayton Thursday who has all but seven-seniors coming back from their 2016 squad that went to the quarterfinals last season.

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Photos By Jeremy McDonald