Bridger Creative Science School

The Franklin High School boys soccer team made history Saturday, winning a state championship for the first time in program history, with a 2-1 overtime win over Summit in the Class 6A final at Hillsboro Stadium.

Junior midfielder Andrew Reed scored the winning goal on a header with 6 minutes, 42 seconds left in the second overtime, on a deftly-placed left-footed cross from junior Jackson Kincaid-Osborn.

The Lightning won the state title a week after the Franklin boys cross country team won the Class 6A championship. Before that, the last Franklin state team title in any sport came in 1959, by the boys basketball team. Franklin has won three other state titles, in boys basketball in 1921 and 1956, and boys track and field in 1929.

Franklin became the third Portland Interscholastic League team to win the state boys soccer title, joining Grant in 2008 and Lincoln in 2015. The Lightning won despite being a seeming underdog, seeded No. 14 in the Oregon School Activities Association bracket, which is determined by a computer ranking. Franklin became the lowest seed to win the 6A boys soccer title since the OSAA switched to a computer system in 2013.

The Lightning’s lower seeding came despite the fact that they were co-champions with Lincoln in the PIL, with a 5-0-2 league record. In the state playoffs, Franklin beat three fellow PIL teams, including Lincoln and Grant, the two teams they tied with during league play. Franklin got to the championship game by beating Cleveland 2-1 in overtime in the semifinals.

In the final against Summit, the Lightning took a 1-0 lead 8:31 into the game when junior Riley Reisner kicked in a rebound from 5 yards out. Summit tied the game with 7:33 left in regulation. Senior goalkeeper Gael Salas-Lara earned chants of “M-V-P!” from the Franklin student section as he made seven saves.

Franklin's team roster:

Gael Salas-Lara, senior goalkeeper Kai Fontenot, junior forward Edwin Balbuena, junior defender Riley Reisner, junior defender Henry Walker, senior defender Felix Moren, senior defender Eli Pearson, senior midfielder Andrew Reed, junior midfielder Simon Eckel, senior defender Finn Rueegger, senior forward Eduardo Penuelas, junior defender

Nick Cox, junior defender Darren Green, sophomore midfielder Jackson Kincaid-Osborn, junior forward Jonah Wald, junior midfielder Larry Delgado-Lopez, sophomore forward Angel Mejia-Flores, sophomore midfielder Sebastian Snover-Pattie, junior defender Vincent Rose, junior defender Adam Moar, junior goalkeeper Will Denniston, sophomore defender Caden Davis, sophomore forward

Ty Kovatch is Franklin’s head coach. The assistant coaches are Scott Milham, Brian Baxter, Will Justice and Jesse Kirkpatrick.

The winning goal: