THE DALLES — The Dalles High Riverhawks are off to a great start in Class 4A boys soccer as they’re undefeated at 5-0 and are the No. 1 ranked OSAA squad.
“The rankings certainly help provide the boys with a little more confidence and it helps motivate them to continue working hard at practice and during the games,” said fifth-year Coach Jesus Granados. “Right now, it’s kind of early to really determine who actually is the top team. It (top ranking) provides them with an incentive to just keep trying to improve, which is what we’re doing and they’re really playing well for sure.”
The Dallas won its most recent home game, Sept. 9, over No. 8-ranked Tillamook, 5-3. The Riverhawks’ potent offense (5.0 goals per game average) started quickly with senior midfielder Juan Camarillo scoring in the seventh minute. The Dalles junior forward David McCraken fired in a shot in the 30th minute, to extend the lead to 2-0. Camarillo then booted his second goal three minutes later on a 12-yard penalty kick, making it 3-0.
“This season sure is pretty fun and it feels very good to be ranked No. 1,” said Camarillo. “We’re working hard to stay high up there in the rankings, too. We’re all working hard together as a team and we’re passing the ball around well and we’re just playing great right now.
“We’re just focusing on our goal to reach the state playoffs again this year.”
Granados said: “Juan has been doing really well; he’s one of our best players and he’s our leading scorer, too. Everything’s going pretty well so far and hopefully we’ll continue winning some games and our goal is to be undefeated this year … but it’s a long season and we’ll see what happens.”
The Cheesemakers made a second-half comeback, led junior Canon Affolter. He was fouled inside the 18-yard box and converted a penalty kick two minutes into the second half. Tillamook senior forward Alfonso Esquivel scored on a header off a corner kick, trimming the deficit to 3-2 in the 57th minute. The Riverhawks responded with a goal five minutes later to take a 4-2 advantage.
The Cheesemakers, guided by first-year Coach Graham Allan, got to within one goal as Affolter scored on a shot from 17 yards, making it 4-3 in the 64th minute. The Riverhawks scored with five minutes remaining to make the score final.
“They (Riverhawks) are a very good side, and they played extremely well in the first half,” said Allan. “We just started playing a lot better later in the game and I thought that we won the second half. It was a one-sided first half, but it was not a one-sided game. We came right back in the second half, and we had a chance to win.
“It was a great game, and our boys played their hearts out.”
The Riverhawks followed the Tillamook contest with two long road games in three days – the start of a four-game road swing. The Dalles beat Klamath Falls (1-1), another 2024 state playoff squad, 2-0, in a nonleague match on Sept. 11 at Summit High School in Bend. The “Road Warrior” Riverhawks then played at Baker (0-4) in a nonleague contest on Sept. 13 and scored a season-high eight goals in the shutout win.
The Riverhawks will play their next nonleague match on Sept. 18 at Seaside followed by a Sept. 20 match at Astoria.
“I think we’ll have a good chance to win the Tri-Valley Conference championship this year,” said Granados. “We have most of the players back from our state playoff team that reached the quarterfinals last year. We have very good team chemistry and we’re looking forward to the upcoming league schedule.”
The Riverhawks open their eight-game TVC schedule Sept. 25 against the visiting Madras High White Buffaloes (0-4-1).
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