Nick Creswick and Jamal Abdoul turned to each other while in line waiting to shake hands with the Crescent Valley High players and shot their index fingers in the air.
One more game.
The Corvallis High boys soccer team is headed to the 5A state championship game after a 3-0 win over the Raiders in a semifinal game on Tuesday evening at Spartan Stadium.
“It means so much,” said Abdoul, a senior forward. “Redemption and all. It’s a pretty amazing feeling.”
Corvallis will take on Woodburn for the championship on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Hillsboro Stadium.
The Spartans scored early and controlled the pace for most of the game against the Raiders, who won the regular-season meeting 2-1.
Cristhian Lopez gave CHS a 1-0 lead at 6:55 in the first half when he collected a loose ball in front of the net and knocked it in.
“What happened there is I kicked it and it didn’t have a lot of force and then it bounced back to me and I kicked it and it hit the post and went in,” Lopez said.
The goal set the tone for the Spartans and had the Raiders reeling.
For the Spartans, scoring early often results in a win.
“It’s really important for us to score the first goal because I feel that when we score the first goal we’re always the most dominant team,” Lopez said. “We can come back if we’re losing 1-0, but it’s really important for us to score the first goal.”