By Jeremy McDonald
jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– Ten minutes into their second game of the season, sophomore goalkeeper Ethan Boltjes was called into action as starting goalkeeper Dylen Wolfe was carried off the pitch with an apparent knee injury.
Boltjes, who saw some action against Sweet Home in Cascade’s 4-0 win last Wednesday, was jogging into the net faced with a machine in front of him churning and wanting more than the two goals they’ve just scored moments before in Stayton.
“I was just nervous,” chuckled Boltjes “Normally I’d be the back-up goalkeeper, Dylen is really good.”
But during the final thirty-minutes of the opening half, Boltjes showcased his talents in goal. Saving five shots and seeing three others just miss the mark of his reach with the Eagles breathing down his neck much of Stayton’s 6-0 victory Tuesday night.
“When the second goalie came in, we had more shots on them but he did pretty good. He got a few nice saves, he’s alright,” the Eagles Julian Flores said of Boltjes.
Flores led the Stayton offense with a hat trick, scoring in the 10th, 54th and 55th minutes. Ishmael Esparza added goals in the 36th and 39th minutes and Omar Renteria scored the opening goal in the seventh minute.
Through Boltjes’ successes in net, the Eagles left opportunities to possibly add to their total on this evening, preparing now for Philomath at home Thursday evening.
“Just working on your shot, hitting the target and hoping it goes in,” Flores said. “It was a difficult game; we came out on top but (Cascade) was alright. They were surprising me in the backline, it was kind of tough. They had a second guy on me, making the game a little bit harder before me, Omar and Jayden (Esparza) worked around that and came out on top.”
Wolfe came back into the game in the 56th minute and finished the remainder of the game. Collecting three saves in the process aa Boltjes reflects on his time against the Shields Machine, he had faced the 36 minutes he was in goal.
Coming down to just one thing:
“Just practicing, that’s basically it,” he said.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
