In the most bizarre goal in an already-crazy game Thursday afternoon, Philomath junior Silas Pittman calmly tapped the ball over to senior teammate Favian Aceves from the top of the 6-yard goalie box.
Aceves punched it into the net to give Philomath a three-goal lead over visiting Sweet Home midway through the second half that would very likely be enough to secure the team’s second win of the season. The Warriors went on to win by an 8-2 margin.
Gallery: PHS boys soccer vs. Sweet Home (Oct. 3, 2023)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 8-2 boys soccer win at home over Sweet Home on Tuesday.
So how was Philomath able to pull off the goal?
It started when Sweet Home’s goalkeeper picked up the ball after receiving it from a teammate — which is not allowed.
“So they don’t penalize it with a penalty kick, they call it a non-penal foul,” PHS coach Dave Ellis explained. “There are only a few things that are non-penal and so it’s an indirect free kick and two people have to touch it before it goes into the goal. You can shoot it off the goalkeeper but if you kick it straight into the net, it doesn’t count.”
Pittman didn’t attempt to shoot off the keeper.
“Silas just rolled the ball for Favian, who just buried it, and they had no idea what was going on there,” Ellis said.
Three Philomath players scored two goals in the victory — sophomore Zach Grapoli, sophomore Caleb Babcock and senior Owen Thomas. The Warriors were also credited with a goal when a Sweet Home player attempted a strong defensive move but in the process sent the ball into the net past his own goalkeeper.
Sweet Home’s goals came on a penalty kick and on a low-percentage shot from roughly 40 yards out from the sideline that arched perfectly over the outstretched hands of Philomath’s keeper.
“It felt like a crazy game but we kept our composure pretty good,” said Grapoli, who scored in the second and 70th minutes. “We had good (ball) distributing down the lines and crossing and had many shots on goal. So I felt like it was a really good game for us.”
Philomath (2-5 overall, 2-5 Oregon West) took the early lead on Grapoli’s first goal when he found the ball at his feet after bouncing off a defender.
“It just popped out randomly and I just tried to hit,” Grapoli said, the shot going into the upper half of the net from 20 yards.
In the seventh minute, Sweet Home junior Ivan Ogden drew a foul in the box and junior teammate Connor Stevens scored on a penalty kick into the left corner to tie the score. But the Warriors had an answer just 90 seconds later.
On the play, senior Lukas Dunn sent a ball in from midfield and Pittman picked up possession. Pittman passed to Babcock, who finished for a 2-1 lead. After the Warriors failed to score on promising opportunities in the ninth, 11th and 12th minutes, Sweet Home (1-6-1, 1-3) tied the score in the 15th on that shot from the sideline.
The own-goal situation followed in the 20th minute. Pittman had sent the ball into the box in an attempt to set up a teammate when Sweet Home intervened to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead, a margin that remained into halftime.
In the second half, Philomath had several attempts that appeared to be frustrating the players for a stretch but the drought ended with Babcock’s second goal in the 46th minute. Dunn started the sequence by fighting for possession, Aceves ended up with the ball and passed to Babcock for the finish.
The indirect goal occurred in the 60th minute and then Philomath scored three times in the final 10 minutes to account for the final margin.
Grapoli scored on a flick from Pittman to put the Warriors up 6-2 in the 70th. Ellis said he believes sophomore goalkeeper Jake McGaughy should be credited with the assist after kicking a ball downfield that bounced once and set up the opportunity.
The final two goals resulted with Pittman coming aggressively toward the net and Thomas being positioned in the right spot to finish. In the 76th, Pittman beat the Sweet Home defender but was not able to get a clear shot in traffic. The ball ended up in front of Thomas for a 7-2 lead.
The final goal occurred two minutes later in a similar situation. Pittman caught Sweet Home’s keeper out of position but had a tough angle near the post. Instead, the ball again ended up as a chance for Thomas and he capitalized.
Pittman ended up with five assists, four of those coming in the second half.
“We’re going to be there eventually,” Grapoli said about the team. “This game gives us a lot of momentum going forward.”
Philomath had encouraging moments in two-goal losses to Newport and North Marion last week. The Warriors proved they could hold their own against more experienced players when it comes to physicality.
“In the second half, we outplayed them always,” Grapoli said. “So we’ve just got to fight really hard in the first half and then let it happen.”
Philomath will get another chance at one of the top teams in the conference Thursday with an evening match at Stayton.
“They’re at about that same level,” Ellis said. “We definitely thought we would have been able to pull ties from the games against Newport and North Marion, so we’ll go there hopeful. If we can stop making errors, I think we’ll have a chance.”
The Philomath-Stayton match is scheduled to be played under the lights with a 6 p.m. start.
