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ORDER GAME PHOTOS
MIDDLETON — Sugar-Salem soccer coach Scott Terry didn’t have time Saturday afternoon to linger and soak in the adulation that comes with winning a state title. Just moments after the Diggers boys team won their third straight championship with a 2-1 victory over Sun Valley Community School, he barely acknowledged the well-wishers congregating after the match to congratulate him and the players.
But who could blame him?
Terry still had another game to coach, attempting to do something no coach had ever done in Idaho high school soccer history at any level—win a boys and girls state title on the same day.
“Three-peating with the boys team is fantastic and I’m so happy about that, but there’s still a hole in my heart that the girls have not won it yet,” Terry said between matches. “This is the fourth time we’ve qualified for the final, and we really want to push through it and fill that hole in our hearts.”
The Sugar-Salem girls had their season ended five times at the hands of CDA Charter at the state tournament over the years. But Terry was starting to wonder if maybe his team’s luck had changed after they finally defeated their longtime nemesis in the semifinals with a 2-0 victory Friday.
“It just feels like many years of unfinished business on the girls side,” Terry said before taking the field in the girls match.
It was one of the main reasons he didn’t want to simply swap the girls job for the boys job.
And after Sugar-Salem’s title match with Kimberly in the girls bracket, his bold ambition was rewarded.
The Diggers knocked off Kimberly 1-0 on the strength of Dakota Weekes’ goal in the eighth minute along with some strong defensive play, including a clean sheet from goalkeeper Nika Nead.
“It feels amazing,” Terry said after winning a second state title just two hours later.
“I think one thing that was great about it is that many of the girls on this team have older siblings that have played for me before. And I’ve had five or six former players already text or call me congratulating us. It felt like this filled a hole for many people, not just me. It’s great feeling like we finally got the monkey off our back.”
A Goal Three Years In the Making
Three years ago, Terry was busy being a normal high school soccer coach, leading just one team at a time. But when the boys coaching position opened up, he contemplated applying for the job. However, he didn’t want to abandon the girls team that he’d spent the previous five years coaching.
Then he developed a plan to lead both programs. And armed with a team of assistants to help him, it’s hard to argue with Terry’s results.
And before anyone thinks he puts these teams on cruise control, consider his key coaching decision on Saturday before the boys final.
“I’m really proud of the boys,” Terry said after the match. “We were throwing them every which way. We’ve been playing a 4-3-3 all year but we rolled out a 3-5-2 today. We just felt like we needed to do that to win today.”
The move worked to perfection.
“Before the game we switched up our formation,” junior forward Ben Owens said. “It wasn’t working as well as we wanted, so we decided to come back with a different look. And we pulled it off, getting more possession and moving the ball around, which led to some key moments for in the match that helped us pull out the win.”
It also didn’t hurt that the Diggers jumped out to a fast start, thanks in part to Owens.
In the match’s opening minute, a Sun Valley Community player tripped Owens in the box, winning a penalty kick.
“I was shaking so much as I walked to the spot,” Owens said of the kick. “I was so nervous, but I locked it in and—boom—got the goal.
Hudson Chambers added another goal in the 36th minute just before halftime, ripping a shot from inside the box that bulged the left side of the net.
Staked to a 2-0 lead heading into the second half, Sugar-Salem fended off a plucky Sun Valley team, but it wasn’t without nerve-wracking moments for Terry and his team.
Easton Turck scored on head off a ball that bounded in to the box, just past the outstretched arms of a diving Diggers’ keeper in the 66th minute.
But Sugar-Salem remained aggressive, limiting Sun Valley’s possession near the end of the match and enabling the Diggers to secure a third straight state title.
A Repeat-Repeat?
While Terry’s feat set a new precedent in Idaho soccer, he has an opportunity to up the ante again next year with an even rarer repeat-repeat with his two squads.
“After a three-peat, I hope we can copy and paste what we’ve been doing on the boys side,” Terry said. “Once you get one and you experience that, everybody knows what it takes now.
It’s easier to get two and three and go from there. Now that we’ve gotten it once, the girls have that feeling and that taste in their mouth. And we’ll be taking this experience and helping push us into next season. They’ll play with a target on their backs now, so it’ll be a good opportunity for us to look and see how can we raise the bar.
“When you’re at the top, you’ve got to put more rungs on the ladder and keep going. But we’re going to enjoy it now while we can.”
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