On November 5th, Gresham High School’s boys soccer team surpassed the quarter-finals of the OSAA State Playoffs and competed in the semi-finals on the 8th. Although we lost 1-6 to Jesuit in the semi-finals, this is the first time the team has gone to the playoffs since 2018, and on top of that, this is the farthest the team has ever gone in a championship. As a school, there is a lot of pride, and emotions regarding the successes of the team. 

   “There are many different emotions and thoughts about such a monumental season and play-off run,” soccer coach Rex Moffit said. “Excitement for sure. Joy in getting to witness the team play and compete at such a high level was amazing. Pride in every single player involved and their ability to serve a role in the team, even if it wasn’t always what they all thought theirs would be.”

   Moffit has been the GHS boys soccer coach since the fall of 2010, spending two years as the JV coach and the past ten years as head varsity coach. He’s been coaching soccer overall since 1991. He has been a part of the Eastside Timbers since its establishment in 2001, where he has worked with several teams and was Eastside Future Stars Director from 2011 to 2012. He has also been a Portland Timbers RTC/ODP Coach since 2014. Moffit has had more than enough experience to better motivate his team and to help them reach the feat that they’ve achieved.

   “I feel pretty happy about it. I wish I could have played more, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to play with people who have talent like the guys on the team,” senior player Max Young said. 

   Like Young, the team has a good amount of seniors, who with their experience and skills have aided the team in getting this far. 

   “We had fourteen seniors this year, most of which have played for the past thirteen or fourteen years,” Young said. “It’s my fourteenth year personally, and most likely my last. I know some of the players have college aspirations, but for the rest of us it was nice to go out with a bang.”

The team not only had great technical skills but there were players who had amazing leadership skills, which can also be an important component of success on and off the field. 

   “Leadership is a huge part of how a team goes and every senior brings some really valuable experience to the table,” Moffit said. “It doesn’t matter what it is, only that they bring everything they can. Some bring more than others, but it all makes a difference and this team needed everything that each of them brought. The hope is that all that senior experience rubs off on the players coming up so they can build on it.”

  Gresham’s soccer team is truly a team that made history as a team has not made it this far in the playoffs since the girls volleyball team won the state championship in 2006.

   “It’s a hard concept to wrap my mind around,” Young said. “I remember my freshman year looking at the ten other freshmen we had that year, and thinking we would be pretty good. But I never thought it would end up like this.”

   The team had lofty goals and worked with Coach Moffit to achieve those goals with grit and tenacity.  

  “The credit really goes to the players for how they won the league and got to the state semifinals. Their drive mixed with their skill and game intelligence was unmatched this season,” Moffit said. “The determination and leadership of the seniors really drove the team to be as successful as they were. My job was to just remind them of the goals they had set and to stay grounded and focused on those goals. Every player contributed this season in some way and it all mattered. Each game became a championship game and the boys really embraced that and used it to their advantage. We learned to never take any opponent for granted so they were ready for anything.”

   The achievement is quite a milestone and will be remembered for years to come, as well as the skilled coach and players that helped us get there. 

   “I’m just really proud and honored that I got to be a part of such an amazing group of young men and witness their rise to such an incredible and amazing season,” Moffit said. “They have represented this school, themselves and their families as well as this entire community at the highest level possible. They have cemented themselves as the best to ever come out of Gresham High School. It was the greatest team and season I have been lucky enough to be a part of. I truly love and appreciate all these young men.”