5A high school soccer playoffs: Vikings earn a come-from-behind win
Just hours before his team made the short trip to Woods Cross to face No. 3 Alta in the 5A semifinals, Cook went to Taco Bell for lunch and ordered a Baja Blast Mountain Dew to go with his meal.
It was the first time all season he had a soda before a game, and as Alta dominated fourth-ranked Viewmont all over the pitch en route to a convincing 1-0 lead at halftime, Cook couldn't help but think about how much he had struggled and about how his Vikings were on the brink of elimination.
And he kept thinking about that darn Baja Blast.
"Regret was going through my head the whole first half," said Cook, who thought to himself, "Oh, how could I be this stupid? I've come this far, and I'm gonna drink a soda before a big game?"
But with just one swing of his foot, he wiped away an entire afternoon of frustration.
After Viewmont's leading scorer, Tyler Arbuckle, leveled the score with a strike in the 58th minute, Cook one-upped his teammate with five minutes remaining and produced a moment of magic to send the Vikes to the 5A title game for the first time since 2005.
"Sometimes it comes down to a little bit of luck, and we had it today and they didn't," said Viewmont coach Dave Wigham. "Alta's a great team, great program, great coach (Lee Mitchell)."
Viewmont will face top-ranked Brighton in the state final on Thursday at 6 p.m.
At some point in the first half, as Alta was beating his team up and down the field (Richard Harrison scored in the 22nd minute and the Hawks had several other chances), Wigham turned to assistant coach Steve Osborne and said he simply hoped they would only be down one goal at halftime.
Similar thoughts were running through the heads of his players.
"As a defender (I was) because we were just being pressured the entire half," said center back Tyson Matern. "It was hard. We were just waitin' for that first half to end so we could regroup."
Viewmont managed to do that, and turned it around after halftime.
Arbuckle got the Vikes level with his goal in the 58th minute, and Cook won it 17 minutes after that.
After Viewmont chucked a long ball into the box, it popped out to Cook slightly left of goal. On the half volley, he struck the ball perfectly and it flew in the net.
The goal wasn't without some controversy as Mitchell and his players felt that Cook committed a handball before he hit it.
However, there's no denying how good of a strike Cook produced.
For as much as Cook struggled Tuesday — he said afterward it was by far his worst performance of the season — his super goal reminded everyone why the Viewmont student section raucously cheered "MVP! MVP! MVP!" while he dribbled the ball near the end of the Vikes' come-from-behind win over Jordan in the quarters last week.
Recent comments
theres no way you guys would've won 5A in 2007 alta only won...
bonneville for ya | May 25, 2008 at 3:48 a.m.
In soccer you'll find that classification doesn't mean anything...
re:5A | May 24, 2008 at 3:53 a.m.
I thought it was interesting to note that all Alta fans talk about...
Interesting.... | May 23, 2008 at 1:52 p.m.
