As they’ve looked to all season, Kaleb Archer came through in the clutch in the biggest game of the year, on the bright stage, with a howitzer goal that even surprised himself.
With upset-minded Clovis North holding a 5-4 halftime lead, Archer received a cross pass from Zack Keysaw with 5:29 left in the third quarter from the left side of the pool, rose up in one motion and blasted a game-tying goal, an equalizer that energized the home crowd and helped propel the Bears to an 8-6 win to capture the D-I Valley title on a beautiful orange and red sunset evening at Buchanan.
“You’re sort of just in the moment and I just saw the opening and went for it,” said Archer, a junior who leads the team in goals. “Sometimes you look back on those and ask yourself, ‘Man, how did I do that?’”
Teammate and wingman Gabe Putnam would score the go-ahead goal a minute and 20 seconds later and the stellar Buchanan defense, led by goalie Anthony Tolbert, would hold Clovis North to only one goal after halftime.
Buchanan head coach Nic Maes, a witness to Archer the past three years, knows a great goal when he sees one.
“We gave him some space and [Keysaw] put it up for him – and if Archer is going up for it I feel pretty confident it’s going in,” said Maes. “There’s only a handful of players who could make that shot in the Valley and only one that can deliver it like Caleb.”
Buchanan (25-4), the overwhelming top seed was not challenged versus Central Section opponents but found itself in an 0-2 deficit on goals by Clovis North’s Evan Belli just three minutes into the game.
The Bears would tie the game at two with a goal from Putnam just before the end of the first quarter. However, another goal by Belli, a David Hoffman penalty shot and a Curtis Vidinoff shot would give the Broncos (21-7) a 5-4 halftime lead.
But, there was no panic in Bear Nation, especially after they beat Clovis North 12-5 and 10-3 during league play. Along with Putnam’s go-ahead score, Archer and Putnam would each score to secure the 8-6 win.
“That’s just our resilience,” said Archer. “You look to the left and right and we are brothers and I know we can bounce back from anything.”
For Buchanan, it was the second consecutive title and the school’s ninth overall.
And for Coach Maes (along with co-head coach Dave Pickford), he came away not only impressed with his team’s play but the intensity brought from the Broncos.
“It feels good [to win Valley],” said Maes. “It was a close match and Clovis North came out and played awesome – hats off to them.”
Broncos’ coach Trent Baxter, a Clovis West graduate who played at UC Irvine was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We played the best game of our season by far,” said Baxter. “We didn’t get the end result obviously but I thought they played absolutely amazing. I was happy.”
The season does not end for Buchanan as they were seeded No. 5 in the CIF NorCal championships.