Defender Zach Brunko (11) tried out for soccer at the end of August.  What he didn’t try out for was pinball.

Brunko had a rare opportunity for a defender 20 minutes into the second half.  He took a shot at the Eastview goal from 25 yards out, expecting a deflection off a few other players that might confuse the goalkeeper enough to let the ball in.

It worked.  But not how he expected.

Several jumping Eastview defenders blocked Brunko’s shot, but the ball never stopped.  It landed between the feet of Zachary Wright (12).  Wright wasted no time.  He trapped, controlled, and blasted the ball into the net while the Eastview keeper was still looking the other way.

The crowd exploded into cheers.

Brunko, after making sure the goal counted, ran to Wright to celebrate.  He had just tied the game at 2-2.

“I was thinking that we have a chance to win this, we’re back in the game… that we have the momentum, the crowd behind us, and I thought we were going to win it,” he said, “But you know, things happen.”

For Brunko, and the entire boys varsity team, things had already happened too fast.  Eastview had opened the game by heading in a free kick in the second minute.  Even though Mitch Bogey (12), assisted by Ian Durbin (12), scored an equalizing goal in the sixth minute, two other Eastview goals, one scored in the tenth minute and the other in 63^rd minute, buried the team under a goal deficit they would not recover from.

The final score: 3-2.

Boy’s soccer took 2^nd place in the awards ceremony later. Senior captains Colton Nelson and Daniel Romero collected the trophy for their resilient team.

This was the first year boy’s soccer has taken part in the state championship game in its history.