Thunder Ridge collapses at state — again. Coach says, ‘We don’t face good teams until the state tournament’

EAGLE — Entering this week’s state tournament, the Thunder Ridge Titans had won eight consecutive district titles, but had thus far been unable to parlay that success into a state championship.

That streak will continue, after the Titans suffered another state tourney loss Friday, this time in a 1-0 thriller at the hands of the Caldwell Cougars at Eagle High School.

After the game, Titan head coach Logan Murri said his team’s problem is that Boise-area teams play a style of soccer that “doesn’t even exist on the eastern side of the state.”

“It’s like this every year,” he said. “The issue is, we have no competition in eastern Idaho. We dominate our conference — everyone (else) fights for second place in our conference. We don’t face good teams until the state tournament, and by then it’s too late.”

In their previous seven trips to the state tourney, Thunder Ridge has taken home one third-place trophy, in 2022, and one second-place trophy, in 2020. They will play for third Saturday, when they face the Boise Braves.

The battle was held in the center of the field throughout the first half, with shots on goal coming few and far between for the first 40 minutes. At the half, Caldwell’s Horacio Hernandez had recorded just two saves, to a single save from Thunder Ridge keeper Steven West.

The action started to come in the second half, though, beginning with a great scoring chance from the Cougars in the 44th minute. West made the save, but was unable to keep possession of the ball, and it took two sliding attempts from Titan defenders to keep Caldwell off the board on second-chance opportunities.

That play, Murri said, completely altered the tenor of the game.

“I felt like we had the momentum. We felt really confident at halftime,” the coach said. “When they got that almost-goal, the dynamic kinda shifted a little bit, and they did catch us on our heels there a little bit in the second half.”

For 20 minutes, the game became a story of near-misses.

Caldwell was just off on several chances, while Thunder Ridge’s Kai Redd saw his header sail inches high in the 54th minute. Another header from Redd in the 59th minute was, again, just a hair wide.

Then, in the 63rd minute, Caldwell was rewarded a free kick from about 30 yards. The initial shot was deflected, but a Cougar appeared to score on a header off the rebound. The goal, however, was waived off, with Thunder Ridge instead being called for a handball, giving Caldwell a penalty kick instead.

Murri, who suggested that he was not pleased with the officiating, said that he saw the handball but disagreed with how the officials handled it.

“The refs kinda botched that, too,” he said. “It really should’ve just been a goal, but it gave us a good opportunity to at least try to stop the penalty.”

West did not get that stop, as Caldwell’s Walter Romero sent low, right at the keeper who committed to his left.

The Titans never got a good look at an equalizer, seeing the clock once again run down on their banner hopes.

“We didn’t play bad,” Murri said. “We didn’t execute the game plan we set out — if we would’ve, it wouldn’t have been a game.”

Thunder Ridge will face Boise at 12:30 Saturday at Eagle High School. The Braves suffered their own heartbreak Thursday, losing to Borah in extra penalty kicks, 3-2, after finishing two extra-time periods in a scoreless tie.

Asked what his team needs to do to bounce back and earn a third-place finish, Murri was again blunt in his response.

“Nothing. They’re ready. They give me (their) all — that’s something about this varsity team this year, they will give me all no matter what,” he said. “We’ll be out here tomorrow, we’ll give Boise everything that we can. … If we execute our game plan, we should take home third.”

The fourth-year Thunder Ridge head coach continued, saying his team will be back in the hunt for that elusive banner next year.

“We’ll be back again next year, it’s just a matter of if we can close it out then. But, obviously, we’re not thinking about that right now.”