Early test looms
for Cutthroat boys at state
Showdown with
Payette,
WRHS back at big dance
Newly-crowned
champion of the Fourth District 3A boys’ soccer tournament, The
Community School of Sun Valley is the favorite heading into the State 3A
tournament Thursday, Oct. 25 at Buhl.
Sean
Higgins, Community School junior, led his team with 7 goals at last
week’s district tournament. Higgins has 27 goals for the season. Express
photo by David N. Seelig
But coach
Richard Whitelaw’s high-scoring Cutthroats (19-2) will face a stern test
to their 19-game winning streak when they open the three-day state
tournament against Third District champion Payette (14-1-1) Thursday at
12:30 p.m.
Payette is
unbeaten in its last 15 games and has outscored opponents 69-10 in that
stretch, including wins over McCall 7-1 and last year’s state champion
Weiser 4-1 in last week’s Third District tournament.
But the
Cutthroats with their 145-31 scoring advantage over foes are formidable on
offense and defense, and they beat Payette 4-1 for third place in last
year’s state tournament at the same Buhl fields.
"I’m
always apprehensive before our games, and the first game of a state
tournament is always tough," said Whitelaw. "But Payette should
be worried, too. Perhaps whoever wins our game will go on to win the state
tournament."
Known for
its offense, The Community School earned its 18th trip to the state
tournament with great defense Thursday at Buhl in a 5-0 district
championship game victory over arch-rival Wood River. On offense, the
Cutthroats out-shot Hailey 28-5.
"We
defended well," said Whitelaw, whose team was 3-0 with a 20-2 scoring
edge at district. "We wanted the ball and we wanted to control
mid-field, since Wood River had controlled the mid-field in its last game
against us."
After Sean
Higgins (27 goals season, 7 district) capitalized on a Wolverine clearing
mistake to put the Cutthroats ahead 1-0 at nine minutes, Ethan Weston
carried a Nic Hanscom lead pass up the right wing and launched a long
cross that floated into the net for a 2-0 cushion at 24 minutes.
Right back
Weston, aggressive from the outset, was judged "Man of the
Match," by Whitelaw.
Josh
Sonneland (18 goals) then put Sun Valley ahead 3-0 at 32 minutes.
That was
the half-time score and it could have been more, if not for several solid
saves by Wood River goalkeeper Honza Walter and a couple of shots off the
Hailey crossbar and goalpost. The Cutthroats took advantage of the wind to
outshoot the Wolverines 18-3.
Josh Stanek
(49 goals in 21 games) and Hanscom (15 goals) added second-half goals to
complete the 5-0 triumph.
Wood River
coach Brian Daluiso said afterwards, "The Community School is really
a disciplined team."
Daluiso’s
Wolverines showed the kind of resourcefulness they’ve shown all year,
rebounding from Thursday’s tough loss for a dominating 4-0 win over host
Buhl Friday in a playoff to determine a state berth.
So, Wood
River (14-6-1) will be making the school’s 17th trip to the state soccer
tournament by virtue of its 3-1 record at last week’s eight-team Fourth
District tourney in Buhl.
"I
still think this team has some good games in them," said Daluiso.
"We’re definitely on an upward climb. I’m sure we’ll see Weiser
at state, and the best of all scenarios is if we play the Cutthroats
Saturday for the state championship."
Wood River
meets Fifth District champ Shelley in its first game Thursday at 3 p.m.,
the winner going against the winner of Weiser-Snake River in Friday’s
semi-final. Weiser (8-4-2) hasn’t scored a lot of goals this season but
has played a tough schedule, tying Payette once 1-1.
Of course,
last year’s state championship game matched Wood River and Weiser, with
Weiser winning 5-2.
The other
teams in the eight-team state tournament are Bonners Ferry and American
Falls. They’ll face off Thursday, the winner going against the winner of
Payette-Community School in Friday’s semi-final.
Bonners
Ferry won the consolation final at last year’s state tournament 4-3 over
Snake River. In all, six teams return from the 2001 meet—Shelley
replacing South Fremont and American Falls going instead of Teton.
Other district games
Wood River’s
dramatic 4-3 overtime victory over Declo last Tuesday gave the Wolverines
a berth in the district title game.
Senior
Daniel Bolognesi tallied four goals including the game winner nine minutes
into OT as Wood River rallied from a 3-1 halftime deficit with a
relentless pressing offense.
With
goalkeeper Walter nursing an injury suffered against The Community School,
Bolognesi played between the pipes in Friday’s playoff game against
Buhl. But the Tribe didn’t mount much of an offense against Hailey.
Still, Buhl’s
defense plugged up the box and limited Wood River to a 1-0 half-time lead—the
first goal scored by freshman Shane Cordeau midway through the first half.
Then, Tate
Mills made a penalty kick shortly after the half and Marcus Acker’s goal
provided insurance at 3-0. Cordeau, recently called up from the junior
varsity, tallied his second goal to finish the Wolverine scoring.
Daluiso
said, "Shane had been playing defense on JV, but he came up and
scored within two minutes after I put him into the game."
Meanwhile,
The Community School downed Magic Valley Christian 4-1 Tuesday. Higgins
scored two goals to go with singles by Sonneland and Stanek, who has now
scored in 19 straight games. "Man of the Match" was Blake
Schnebly.
SOCCER
NOTES—While The Community School has set most of the records this
fall, Wood River has done well itself. The 14-6-1 Wolverine record equals
that of the 1987 Hailey team. That 1987 squad scored 93 goals, a school
best, and this year’s Wolverine team has scored 81. The school record
for wins is 16, set by last year’s 16-2 team.
The two
Blaine County teams boast six state titles between them.
Wood River,
seeking its fourth straight state championship game berth, won state
soccer in 1998 (a 4-1 shootout over Weiser at Nampa) and 1999 (2-1 in
double OT over Twin Falls, in Twin).
The
Community School won the State A-3 title in 1999 (3-1 over Middleton in
Idaho Falls) and 1992 (3-0 over Kuna in Twin Falls), and the A-2 crown in
1986 (5-1 over Caldwell in Idah9o Falls). The Cutthroats also beat Boise
2-1 for the state title in 1976, when soccer was in its infancy in the Gem
State.