CORVALLIS — A freshman who said he did not expect to crack the soccer team’s varsity this fall, Philomath’s Dreyton Nuno tried to stay calm while approaching the ball Friday night during a shootout against Scappoose.
To set the scene for the do-or-die play-in game, each team had made five penalty kicks up to that point but the Indians had failed on the front end of an eighth round. Nuno trotted up to take a turn and if he could make it, the Warriors would advance to the Class 4A playoffs.
Gallery: PHS boys soccer vs. Scappoose (Nov. 2, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s boys soccer play-in victory over Scappoose on Saturday.
“Nervous, very nervous,” said Nuno, who was so nervous that he nearly took a shot before the official blew his whistle to signal that he could now make the attempt. “I was just trying to envision it in my mind. I was like, ‘OK, I’m always going to go right corner because I’m a lefty. I always try to glance a little bit to the other side and the goalie just went that way and it went in.”
On a wet field at Crescent Valley High School, Philomath’s players celebrated the play-in match victory with what goes down in the record books as a 2-2 final with the Warriors winning on PKs, 6-5.
“When you look at the strength of (No. 1) Stayton, the strength of (No. 2) North Marion, getting into the final 16 was always our measure of success and it wasn’t going to be easy because we couldn’t get a bye and had to do a play-in game,” PHS coach Dave Ellis said. “But yeah, we’re here, we’re where we belong. Now let’s go see if we can shock somebody.”
Philomath (7-5-2) goes into the playoffs as the No. 13 seed and will play at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Henley. The fourth-seeded Hornets bring a 10-2-2 record into the match. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals to face the winner of The Dalles vs. Marist Catholic.
For the PKs, Scappoose had to shoot first and both teams were good on their first two chances — Philomath finding success with freshman Sammy Hernandez and senior Silas Pittman. On Scappoose’s third attempt, the Warriors’ junior goalkeeper, Jake McGaughy, made the save with a dive to his right. But PHS could not take advance with its third attempt missing high.
The two teams traded successful PKs over the next three rounds with Philomath’s shots coming from junior Caleb Babcock, junior Zach Grapoli and sophomore Jacob Hernandez. Then, Scappoose’s goalkeeper trotted out to take a shot against his Philomath counterpart and McGaughy made the save.
That again opened a window of opportunity for the Warriors but the attempt was unsuccessful and the shootout remained in a deadlock. Scappoose’s next player missed with McGaughy again going to his right for a save. And that set up Nuno, who buried his shot for the game winner.
The coach said he knew Nuno could win the game.
“He has an ability to focus and get it done,” Ellis said. “I knew he wasn’t going to be overwhelmed by this and I’m really, really proud … I love that Dreyton got that far. It’s a big moment for your freshman year.”
While Nuno had his moment in the spotlight, he was quick to point out the efforts of his teammates.
“It just wasn’t me,” Nuno said. “It was all of my teammates that made it happen.”
On the defensive side of the shootout stood McGaughy. Through two 40-minute halves and two 10-minute overtimes, he had faced enough shots to develop a sense of Scappoose’s shooting tendencies.
So, when he faced those players in the shootout, the Warriors junior might’ve had a mental edge.
“I picked a side from what I saw from the players,” McGaughy said. “I already knew where I was going before their foot made contact with the ball.”
Still, that doesn’t always work and keepers often just have to make their best guess. On a few occasions, McGaughy just froze and went down on one knee.
“On those ones, I didn’t guess a side,” he said. “I was going to go one way and they went back the other way and I just didn’t go with it. So, you’ve just got to guess a side.”
The outcome turned out to be a dream scenario for Philomath’s goalkeeper — blocking three shots to help the team win a match and move forward to the state playoffs. For the opposing keeper, it’s a moment to forget.
Said McGaughy, “It’s a double-edged sword” for a match to come down to a shootout.
Playing in a steady rainfall on a cool Saturday evening, Philomath took a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute when Sammy Hernandez found the net with an assist to sophomore Jacob Hernandez.
The goal helped remove the disappointment of what had happened a few moments earlier when Sammy Hernandez had come close to scoring on a shot that could have slipped under the crossbar if the Scappoose keeper wouldn’t have gotten his hands on it to deflect the ball up and over the net.
Scappoose (4-5-6) broke through in the 36th minute on an unassisted goal by junior Cameron Dierdorff, who placed the ball over McGaughy on a shot from several yards out on the right side.
The game was tied, 1-1, at halftime.
In the second half, the Indians took the lead in the 58th minute on a goal by sophomore Alex Pereira with an assist going to Dierdorff.
Philomath answered quickly in the 61st minute while Pittman battled in the box for possession with Scappoose sophomore defender Bennett Fink. Pittman was able to shake off the opponent long enough to get the shot off and score past the keeper to the left side of the net.
The Warriors had a few solid chances during the final 15 minutes, including an open look that sophomore Esias Sapp missed wide right after picking up a pass from Pittman.
Neither team could do much offensively during the overtime periods.
“They played hard, we played hard and in the end, we came out with it,” McGaughy said. “I think we had more shots on goal than they did and they got lucky with that first one. I made a little mistake and it went in. So, In my opinion, it should have never gone to PKs.”
Ellis also believed the game never should’ve come down to a shootout.
“I definitely didn’t want it and felt like we shouldn’t have had to go that far — we made it hard on ourselves,” he said. “We had numerous more opportunities than our opponent and needed to put them away and we didn’t.”
Philomath returns to the 4A playoffs after missing out last year.
Said Nuno, “It’s just an amazing feeling.”
