Its not easy winning a state championship for the first time.
Doing it again, repeating, going back-to-back, requires maturity, composure and a fierce
will to win.
Those were traits of the 1999 Wood River High School boys soccer
team. The Wolverines, as coach Brian Daluiso said, "played hard, played fair and
played with class."
Before hundreds of proud fans, Wood River also played well enough to
defeat favored Twin Falls 2-1 in double overtime Saturday, in Twin Falls, and capture its
second straight State A-2 boys tournament title.
Strong defensively and improved on the attack, Wood River (13-1-3
overall, 8-0-2 away) never lost on the road this fall. By beating Twin Falls in Twin for
the first time in five years, the Wolverines stayed unbeaten in eight state tournament
games over two years.
Wood River finished the best boys soccer season in school history
unbeaten in its final 13 games, the only blemish a 2-1 loss to Twin Falls Sept. 11.
"I dont think the crowd could have asked for a better
final," said Daluiso. "It was so intenseclose, clean, well-officiated,
both teams playing for something. Our guys were covered with sweat. They were working very
hard, but were still strong at the end."
"To be defending champions is a tough place to beto have
that much pressure and rise above it. We had the heart and desire to do it."
And two key goals.
Top Wolverine scorer Jason Southward (23 goals in 17 games) scored
twice, including a penalty kick in the first of two 10-minute overtime periods, as Wood
River avenged its only loss of the season.
It was Twin Falls taking the early initiative. The Bruins scored in the
first minute when sophomore striker Brock Cooper caught the Wolverine defense napping for
a 1-0 lead.
Steadying itself, Wood River held off the Bruins for the rest of the
45-minute first half and became stronger and stronger in the midfield and on the attack by
the second half. The Wolverines surrendered very few corner and direct kicks.
Defense wins championships, Daluiso said. Senior sweeper Chad Cleveland
was the leader of the defensive five featuring left back Charlie Parker, right back Ryan
Northrop, stopper Ryan McCauley and goalkeeper Charlie Askew.
"Chad was all over the place," said Daluiso. "If I had
to choose a tournament MVP, itd be a tough call, but Id have to go with Chad
or maybe with Graham Watanabe, our energizer bunny out there.
"Charlie Parker is the most underrated kid on our team, Ryan
Northrop led the way in our first two state games and Ryan McCauley is always so tough in
the middle."
Another Wolverine secret weapon was junior forward Mike Spaulding. His
speed off the bench frazzled opponents at state. Daluiso said, "Mike had a great
tournament. Hes so fired up when he comes in, he just makes things happen."
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Spaulding turned up his jets and
was tripped about 30 yards out. McCauley teed up a direct kick. Lining up in front of
their keeper, Bruin defenders focused on blocking out Southward and Spaulding.
They forgot about Wolverine senior wing Josh Smart.
As McCauleys line drive screamed toward the goal, Smart quietly
released from his defender and moved toward the keeper. Smart instinctively headed the
ball, and it clanged off the post. Southward was there for the rebound and it was 1-1.
Wood River picked up the pressure and had a number of game-winning
chancesJames Cordes nearly burying a header off a Jess Kiesel corner kick. It went
to overtime, a familiar championship game destination for the Wolverines.
Daluiso, remembering Wood Rivers OT penalty-kick shootout triumph
over Weiser in last years final, started to assemble his list of PK shooters. But
assistant coach Mark Bucknall noticed something.
"The Twin Falls keeper was having a good game, but Jason was
getting tied up all the time," said Daluiso. "Every time Jason got it, hed
dribble and be swarmed by two or three guys. Mark said he thought Twin was going to take
him down."
Overtime was two minutes old when Cordes punched a long lead pass
ahead. Southward chased it down in the right corner. Two Bruins defenders surrounded him,
but Southward used his considerable ball skills to squirt through. He was held. And a
penalty kick was called.
Southward found the corner. Suddenly ahead 2-1, Wood River knew enough
not to celebrate. It wasnt sudden death, and there were 18 minutes left in OT. The
Wolverines pressed and dominated the remaining time, securing their title.
"With five minutes left, I was really scared," said Daluiso.
"I thought Twin Falls would bring everybody. Theyre a young team, a team that
played awfully well early, and they didnt have the oomph."
Looking back on the season, Daluiso said, "Last year it was such a
surprise winning the state tournament. It made it a little tougher for this team to get a
sense of itselflike the only way to go was down.
"After the loss to Twin Falls and tie to Burley, things just fell
apart. We werent on the same page. I was really upset. I walked off without saying
anything to the team after the Burley tie and called off practices for a couple of days.
"Then, on Homecoming Day, I had a meeting with our captains, James
Cordes and Charlie Askew. They had organized themselves for practices. We talked for an
hour and cleared the air. On Monday we had a team meeting. The kids had their comments and
I had mine.
"We started from scratch.
"It wasnt like we came out like a huge ball of fire after
that. But they improved each game so they were peaking by the state tournament. They did
things together off the field, accepted everybody and were a team in every sense of the
word.
"We just had real solid athletes, guys who worked well together
and did what was asked of them."
Named to the 18-player State All-Tournament team were seniors
Cleveland, Cordes and Watanabe; and junior Southward.
In other state tourney games:
Wood River beat Bonners Ferry 4-0 Thursday with Thayne Rolf and
Spaulding scoring in the first half, then Southward (header) converting a Kiesel corner
after half and Spaulding adding a second goal;
The Wolverines beat Weiser 1-0 Thursday in a hard-fought battle on
another Southward PK; and tied Skyview of Nampa 0-0 Friday to earn their championship game
berth.
Going unbeaten on the road for the first time in school history, the
Wolverines ended up scoring 58 goals (3.4 per game) and allowing only 15 goals in 17
games. They outscored state opponents 7-1.
Season scorers: Southward 23 goals (scoring in 13 of 17 games), Cordes
10, Watanabe 7, Rolf 6, Spaulding 4, Smart 3, McCauley 3 and Kiesel 2. Others were Robert
Fundy, Will McNeal, Vince Nagashima, Alfredo Ojeda and Ryan Skahill.
WOLVERINE NOTESIn both state championship seasons, Wood
River players didnt draw a red card. "And we didnt have that many
yellows," said Daluiso
.Red-shoed Southward, whose "Sideshow" nickname
of 1998 was shortened to "Show" in 1999, has 34 goals in two seasons and is
close to the all-time school scoring record of 36 goals held by Nick Butler (1986-89) and
Brad Jaques (1987).
Daluiso attributed Wood Rivers scoring rise from 34 goals last
year to 58 goals this year to more success on free kicks and corner kicks
.Over three
years with Askew in the goal, Wood River is 32-8-6, outscoring foes 123-53.
Askew, Cordes, McCauley and Watanabe, with Cleveland as alternate, were
chosen for the first Fourth District A-2/A-3 All-Star game Saturday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. at
Burley. Community School coach Richard Whitelaw is the A-3 coach
Wood River team
banquet is Thursday, Nov. 11 at Ricos.