No one could’ve seen this coming.
Despite trailing by two goals and being a man down with 31 minutes remaining, Jesuit did the unthinkable, tying the game in the 79th minute then defeating McMinnville in penalty kicks in the OSAA 6A Boys State Championships Game on Saturday night, Nov. 16, at Hillsboro Stadium.
“We’ve been talking about resilience and in this game, they showed a ton of resilience,” Jesuit head coach Geoff Skipper said. “Being down a man, being down two goals and coming back, credit to the boys. That’s a heck of a McMinnville group, and you had both teams cramping up and falling down on the field, and the fact that we could keep our wits about us, win it in PKs and score two goals, I’m just really proud.”
As he should be.
In a game that saw countless players from both teams laying on the turf late due to cramping, and even multiple players—including Jesuit’s Grant Sasaki—taken to the hospital during or shortly after the game as the result of complications tied to the cold and wet conditions, it was the Crusaders—with help from Sasaki—who persevered in the face of what seemed like insurmountable odds.