With the game tied up in the final minute, Jesuit’s Jet Perry had the ball to the left of the La Salle Prep goal. The Crusaders needed a score to leave Milwaukie with the win.
Perry sent the ball off his right foot, it sailed across the goal and past the finger tips of La Salle Prep goalkeeper Lucas Hawkins before hitting the back of the net.
It was just enough as the Crusaders were able to sneak past the Falcons 3-2 on Monday night in a battle between the reigning Class 6A and Class 5A champions.
“I knew that center back would be right on my left, so I knew if I took a quick little touch over his leg, he wouldn’t be able to react in time,” Perry said. “And then as soon as I got around him I knew I was going to hit it. I was just trying to hit the far right corner and luckily I was able to curl it a little bit.”
It only took five minutes for the Falcons to open the scoring up on Monday. An attempt on the goal was thwarted by the Jesuit defense, but the Crusaders were not able to clear the ball fast enough.
La Salle Prep sophomore Ryder Korvola got a foot on the ball and it sailed into the goal to give La Salle Prep a 1-0 lead.
It took Jesuit until 51 minutes to respond. Junior midfielder Vala Saghafi sailed a free kick from the football 30-yard line and Perry was able to get in front of the goalkeeper to hold the ball. Perry tapped the ball into the now empty goal to score.
“I just saw Jet at the back post and I just put it into a good area and the rest was all Jet,” Saghafi said.
La Salle Prep spent a lot of the game ensuring that Saghafi was well covered. But at 63 minutes, Saghafi got his first real breakaway.
He was fouled just at the edge of the box and his ensuring penalty kick was good to give the Crusaders a 2-1 lead with under 20 minutes to go.
At 73 minutes, it looked like the Falcons everyone home with a draw. Off a free kick, 6-foot-3 defender Luka Skoro came flying in for a header that was good to tie the game up at 2-2.
But with around 40 seconds left, Perry would score his goal to give the Crusaders the 3-2 win.
The defending Class 5A state champions are among the favorites again this fall, despite losing a talented senior class led by Vance Sheffield.
“We had some players go D1, D2. Going from last year to this year, losing strikers, midfielders, I think we did great,“ Skoro said. ”I think we’re adjusting and I think we’ll make it far. They’re one of the top 6A teams in the state and we’re a 5A school and we just proved that we can compete.”
There was a 20-minute stoppage late in the first half, as Jesuit senior Kian Stone went down with a lower leg injury after a physical slide tackle.
“That’s our brother. I’ve known him for so long and he’s a big part of this team,” Saghafi said. “He’s our captain and, honestly when you see someone go down like that that’s that close to you, it just gives you fuel to try even harder.”
After the injury stoppage, the teams played for about six minutes before the halftime break.
With almost 30 minutes of down time before the second half started, Perry said the Crusaders needed to make sure they were keeping their eyes on the ball.
“A lot of us were like focused on trying to hurt the other team,” Perry said. “But we knew we had to stay focused and it’d be better if we won than if we hurt them just because Kian was hurt.”
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