A few moments before attempting a corner kick with about 10 minutes remaining in the game, Philomath High’s Sammy Hernandez was stopped by the linesman.
“Move it back 2 inches.”
Hernandez did as he was told, repositioned the ball and then placed it perfectly toward the net where junior Caleb Babcock timed his jump and scored on a header. The goal gave the Warriors a 4-0 lead.
Gallery: PHS boys soccer vs. Junction City (Sept. 19, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High School’s 5-0 boys soccer win over Junction City on Thursday.
A short time later, Hernandez scored on his own header in what ended up as a 5-0 victory over visiting Junction City. In the process, Hernandez recorded his first high school hat trick.
“I’ve dreamed about it for a long time — since I was a sixth grader,” said Hernandez, a freshman who is already having a strong impact on Philomath’s lineup.
Dave Ellis, the team’s head coach, certainly welcomes his talent to the field and said he works well with the team’s veteran, senior Silas Pittman.
“Those two have a good understanding of where each other are,” Ellis said.
In fact, Pittman and Hernandez teamed up on one of the prettiest goals of the afternoon in the 49th minute. Freshman Dreyton Nuno got the sequence started near midfield.
“I made a run to the ball … Silas played a through ball and I just had a nice easy one-touch — back post,” Hernandez said.
Pittman spotted the opportunity right away.
“I received the ball and turned around and there was just a ton of open space,” Pittman said. “I saw Zach (Grapoli) on the right and Sammy on the left … there were three to the right on Zach and one on Sammy so I slipped it to him through the gap and he put it away — it was a beautiful play.”
Philomath pretty much controlled the game from the opening whistle. The Warriors threatened in the opening seconds with a Pittman-to-Hernandez opportunity nearly producing only 12 seconds in. In the 13th minute after a series of missed chances, Hernandez found the net with an assist by junior Lukas Hernandez.
The team just missed to the right of the net a few minutes later on a Pittman to Grapoli to Sammy Hernandez opportunity. Nuno had a presence in the box as well with a few chances.
Despite the dominance, Philomath led just 1-0 at halftime.
“We made the game hard, especially in the first half,” Ellis said. “We didn’t take our chances, we didn’t play simple. It’s hard sometimes when you come up against a weaker team not to play as sharp as you can and to take an extra touch.”
The result ends up being a situation where the players are doing too much, Ellis said, when they really should just release the ball.
“When we didn’t get two goals in the first 20 minutes, they got belief … they were working harder to get the ball,” Ellis said about the opponent. “We’re better but we’ve still got to be humble and today I didn’t think we were humble.”
In the second half, Philomath scored in the 46th minute for a 2-0 lead when Pittman drew a foul in the box. The resulting penalty kick that screamed past the keeper low opened up the scoring column for home team.
“The first half was a little frustrating,” Pittman said. “We weren’t really playing our game really. We were struggling with focus and warmups and so entering the game, we were kind of playing down to their level. … It was good for us to bounce back in the second half but there was definitely some frustration.”
Junction City (1-2-1) dodged a bullet just a couple of minutes later on a Sammy Hernandez corner kick that just missed on a header by sophomore Esias Sapp.
Philomath’s defense, meanwhile, played sound soccer throughout. On one of Junction City’s best opportunities about 10 minutes into the second half, Warriors sophomore Jacob Hernandez stepped up to clear when the Tigers got into the box. Six minutes later, Junction City had another chance only to see Babcock blow up the play.
In the 72nd minute, PHS goalkeeper Tlacaelel Brambila-Boatner made a save when Tigers sophomore Emmanuel Ruiz got a good look off a throw-in.
The Warriors went up 3-0 on the Pittman-to-Hernandez goal. Less than a minute later, Pittman exited the game with a yellow card. The corner kick goal with the Babcock header made it 4-0 in the 69th minute. And Sammy Hernandez’s third goal came in the 77th minute on an effective cross from Grapoli.
Philomath (2-1) will play at home again this coming Thursday with a 4 p.m. matchup against Sweet Home. The Huskies will come in with a 1-1-1 record after defeating Kennedy Thursday by a 5-0 margin.
