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There was rhyme and reason to HV crown By Greg Stiles Master of the Box Only with Tim will HV win He is the best Better than the rest He fly�s thru the air It�s almost not fair Because he is so great November 18th is the date We will win the entire STATE!! Hidden Valley boys soccer coach Charlie Seal is no poet laureate, but he proved a better-than-average seer when he penned this verse on junior goalkeeper Tim VanderStoel�s geometry binder in October � before the Mustangs had even clinched the District 6 championship and a state playoff berth. Last Saturday, Seal�s poetic prediction came to pass as Hidden Valley defeated Portland�s Catlin Gabel, 1-0, for the Class 3A/2A/1A championship at Lake Oswego It wasn�t easy for VanderStoel or his teammates, who finished off the year with 13 straight wins after dropping a 3-1 to decision at Catlin Gabel on Sept. 16. It was the Mustangs� first championship since 1993 when they defeated La Salle, 4-1. Although Hidden Valley advanced to the state semifinals in 1997 and 1998, it may well have been last year�s disappointing 4-2, first-round lost to Marist that fueled the championship fire. "We knew we were a better team," says senior midfielder Evan Cope, who scored Saturday�s only goal. "It was real defeating. It shot us down and made us come back harder." VanderStoel missed that match after he caught a cleat in the face during a district playoff game against North Valley. It took 38 stitches to repair his right eyelid VanderStoel�s face was in the wrong place at the wrong time again Friday, but nothing was going to keep him out of the line-up Saturday. "I jumped into the swimming pool at the hotel and scraped half of the skin off my face and forehead," VanderStoel says. "I took the bandages off for the game. It looked pretty nasty. But it�s something we�ll remember for the rest of our lives. We�ll be sitting on the porch 40 years from now talking about it." VanderStoel had a notion the Mustangs were the real deal early in the year. "I saw the potential, but I wasn�t sure we could pull it together," he says. "There were a lot of guys who were individual players. Back in 1998, we had a team, I don�t want to say, but with two-times the talent. But it bickered a lot and didn�t have the unity we have now." There were academic questions as well in August. "There were worries about some guys having to take care of schoolwork," VanderStoel says. "But they ended up taking care of it." The first critical on-field test was the loss at Catlin Gabel. "We dominated most of the first half, but we had trouble finishing off opportunities," says senior striker Matt Johnson. "We were a little fatigued in the second half, and that�s when all the goals were scored. "I don�t know if they knew we had played three games in three days. That might have made them a little overconfident coming into the finals." From VanderStoel�s perspective, the early match was a harmless run-through for the real thing. The Eagles had taken advantage of the Mustangs� lax reaction to free kicks, and he wasn�t going to let it happen again." "They like to be real quick off the ball," VanderStoel says. "Moments after the whistle, they were kicking the ball and our defenders were still running back. I reminded our team that we had to get back this time. They caught us off-guard three times, and we couldn�t let that happen again." It was a 3-2 victory over District 6 rival Phoenix that cemented the Mustangs� belief they could make a title run. "That gave us the momentum swing we needed," Cope said. After Hidden Valley�s 1993 triumph, the title was owned by Catlin Gabel, Marist and La Salle. Phoenix and Henley took their shots in the interim but couldn�t wrest the crown from the three kings of small-school soccer. Even with Hidden Valley�s 1-0 double-overtime win over two-time champion La Salle in the semifinals, the Mustangs weren�t considered the team to beat. "We knew everybody around the state thought we were the underdogs," says Cope. "Catlin Gabel thought we were the underdogs, but we improved during the season." Johnson, of course, was a marked man throughout the contest. Score 32 goals in a season and it�s hard not to draw a crowd. "I always had two guys on me," Johnson says. "I just tried to make runs across the field to pull defenders away from other people and give them room to work.� Hidden Valley outshot the Eagles 19-7 and had a 12-6 advantage in corner kicks. The official statistics didn�t adequately reflect VanderStoel�s busy afternoon. "They pounded at us pretty good," he recalls. "And they had some corner kicks that I had to pick off." Cope had 16 goals this season, but none of them as big as the one a minute into the second overtime Saturday. "The crowd was going nuts," Cope says. "It was the best feeling ever. The adrenalin was pumping. I couldn�t believe it." Hidden Valley will celebrate its championship at a 9:15 a.m. assembly on Wednesday in the school gym. The public is invited. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.