Highland wins frigid 6A District 4-5-6 championship
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POCATELLO — The 6A District 4-5-6 girls soccer championship was played in miserable conditions. At kickoff, it was 40 degrees in Pocatello with steady winds and rain.
Canyon Ridge appeared to be affected by the weather. Several players were taking short breaks to wrap their arms around themselves and create warmth. Highland, on the other hand, seemed to bask in the fall flurry, outrunning their matchup to nearly every free ball and maintaining possession when the Riverhawks could not.
The end result saw the Rams run away with a 5-0 victory, the district title and a berth into the state tournament.
Highland head coach Matt Shutes commented on the weather after the game, saying that it may have been cold but that his team was prepared for it.
“They played really well,” Shutes said of his team. “The weather is bad, it’s cold. … I’m really proud of the girls, they played great.”
It didn’t take long for the Rams to score what would prove to be the winning goal. In just five minutes, sophomore Taryn Roth outran her defender up the left wing for the opening goal.
Like the rain, though, the Highland offense kept coming. Canyon Ridge, who made a change at goalie in the 23rd minute, was able to thwart the attacking Rams until Highland was rewarded a free kick around 25 yards out in the 18th minute.
Junior Peyton Looney, who was responsible for initiating the set pieces while she was on the field, didn’t even mess with a setting cross, choosing instead to attack the high near side of the goal and finding the net.
Highland added goals by junior Devree Bell in the 30th minute and Ashlyn Hale in the 35th, taking a 4-0 lead into halftime.
Asked what it is about his team that made them able to tough out the weather, Shutes said that it came down to “tradition.” Highland, he explained, has won a district title every year since the current players were in elementary school.
“They don’t want to be the ones that lose that,” Shutes said. “They don’t care what the weather is, they’re going to come out, they’re going to play — there’s a lit of resiliency.”
Shutes also pointed out the fact that there is not a single senior on this year’s team, meaning there is no clear experienced leader. That has forced the players to depend more on a teamwork mentality, he said.
One of the 12 juniors on the Highland roster, Bell, added her second goal of the night in the 60th minute.
Canyon Ridge could muster just two shots on goal in the 80 minutes.
The 6A state tournament is scheduled for Oct. 24-26 at Sandpoint High School.
Highland, Shutes said, will not know who they play in the first round or when until, at the earliest, Sunday. But, the opponent won’t change how his team prepares for its business trip north.
“It’s maximum effort in training sessions,” he said.
Another thing that won’t change is the team’s overall goals, which the players and coaches set following a Sept. 7 loss to Pocatello at home. Since that loss, the Rams have gone 7-0-1 including Thursday night’s victory.
“We had three goals,” Shutes said, “to be able to host all our district tournament games — which means we finished first, which we did — and then to win the district tournament. So we’ve got two down. Our last goal: go to state, be competitive, put on a good show and give everything we’ve got.”