Klahowya fell short to top-seed Cascade 3-0 in the state Round of 16 May 17 and finished the season 13-5-1.

Klahowya’s soccer season went from dead in the dirt to full of life in the span of about 10 minutes as late-match goals from senior Oliver Peterson and sophomore Kaleb Warden flipped the script for a 2-1 opening state playoff victory over Montesano in Silverdale May 14.

Down 1-0 in the final minutes, a desperation charge to the goal saw the Eagles awarded a penalty kick against the Bulldogs. Peterson’s aim was true, his shot traveling unhindered to the back of the net to tie the match in the final two minutes plus extra time.

Fans had barely regained their breath when the Eagles amazingly struck again. The Bulldogs’ goalkeeper was left helpless to watch a floating go-ahead goal off the foot of Warden sail into the corner of the net, a shot that seemed to shock Warden more than anybody else. “Oh my days!,” he exclaimed. “It just slowly went in, and I just kind of broke down. I didn’t know what to do.”

Longtime coach Jeff Quinn said: “When things come together, they play with heart, and they get those goals, you feel great. You want to go as far as you can every time, so today was good.”

The Eagles’ first state contest since the spring of 2019 was deadlocked for well over half the match before the Bulldogs broke the tie. Quinn worked to ensure his team continued to fight with their backs against the wall, the remaining 16 minutes on the scoreboard slowly ticking away. “I always want to control more than I can in those moments,” he said. “I watched their heads drop, and I’m just screaming at them to come on and stay in it.”

A frustrated Peterson and his teammates heeded the call, but it was a self-induced moment of calm as the senior prepared for his penalty kick that seemed to signal the permanent change in momentum. “My good friend, he says that if you wait over ten seconds to shoot, your odds of scoring your PK go up like sixty percent,” he said. “I just had to try it, and I took his advice there.”

Whether you call it statistics or sheer luck, Peterson did not argue with the results. “It took us getting scored on to really realize that this was all or nothing,” he said. “We got that energy up, started possessing better. Final score says it all.”