He’d never taken a PK before. His perfect strike made Caldwell a state soccer champ
The first penalty kick of Octavio Sandoval’s high school career will certainly go down as a memorable one.
The Caldwell junior buried his spot kick into the left side netting Monday, ending a sudden-death shootout against Borah and lifting the Caldwell boys soccer program to its first state championship in the state’s top classification.
Caldwell (16-6-2) and Borah (15-5-1) battled through a scoreless regulation and two overtime periods before entering a shootout at Rocky Mountain High. Five kickers weren’t enough to break the tie, sending the shootout into sudden death.
Despite Sandoval’s inexperience in big moments, the reserve midfielder calmly buried the decisive penalty past the outstretched hands of Borah goalkeeper Christian Griffith for the 4-3 shootout victory.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life, to do something special for myself and prove it out here,” Sandoval said. “It was a blessing. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win in the best competition in Idaho.”
Caldwell coach Rhys Yeakley said Sandoval pestered him all year to take a penalty, promising he had “ice in his veins.” Yeakley hesitated because he’d never seen him perform in a high-pressure situation. But when Sandoval came up to him Monday as the shootout entered its sixth round, the veteran coach finally relented.
Griffith guessed correctly, diving to his right and quickly getting down to the ground. But Sandoval placed his kick so perfectly that it didn’t matter, slipping the ball past the range of the Lions’ four-year starter and banging it off the side netting.
“He always goes to that side,” Yeakley said. “And I’m like, ‘Octavio, do you have something to the other side just in case?’ And he says, ‘It doesn’t matter if the goalkeeper hits it. I hit side net every time.’
“I was very scared. I was not confident. But he was confident, and that’s all that matters.”
The victory capped a Cinderella season for the Cougars, a perennial contender in the state’s second division that had yet to find much success in the top classification. Caldwell limped to a 5-8-2 record last fall in its first season at the 6A level, and it started this year picked to finish 10th out of 14 teams in the 6A SIC preseason coaches’ poll.
Yeakley said he played along when his players boasted they could win a state title. He set more modest goals. Just making it to state and earning some respect would have satisfied him.
“I did not think this was possible,” Yeakley said. “I mean, a lottery ticket or Powerball would have been more possible than this. But these kids, they just fought all year.”
Caldwell entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed and pulled off three straight wins over higher seeds en route to Monday’s championship banner. It started with a penalty kick victory over No. 3 Mountain View on Thursday, followed by a 1-0 victory over No. 2 Thunder Ridge on Friday.
The championship battle against No. 4 Borah was originally slated for Saturday. But Mother Nature threw Caldwell another obstacle as a pair of lightning delays postponed the title match to Monday.
Yeakley said that delay hurt the Cougars more than Borah. He admitted the Lions field more offensive firepower than Caldwell, which often relies on its defense to grind down opponents before striking with a late counterattack. Caldwell hadn’t scored a first-half goal in more than a month, he said.
That prediction played out Monday as Borah titled the field and finished the two-day contest with seven shots on goal to Caldwell’s one. Borah twice saw potential game winners bounce off the crossbar as Junior Farini hit the woodwork from 38 yards out with 10 seconds left in regulation, and Dallen Le tested the crossbar from 10 yards in the 97th minute.
That sent the game to a shootout, where Caldwell goalkeeper Horacio Hernandez provided an advantage. He led the Cougars to a state title as a freshman in a shootout, and he made two stops in Thursday’s shootout victory over Mountain View.
He came through again Monday with back-to-back saves to start the penalty-kick round.
“I love the pressure,” Hernandez said. “I love to be able to win it for my team, and I love the feeling. It just brings the best out of me.”
Griffith responded with a pair of saves of his own, stoning Oliver Porter and a potential game-winner from Freddy Achibia to send the shootout into sudden death. Those back-to-back saves made Monday start to resemble the 11-round shootout that Borah won over Caldwell at the district tournament two weeks ago.
But Sandoval provided the final strike to prove, once and for all, Caldwell belongs with the state’s top programs.
“We’ve proven ourselves,” Sandoval said. “You don’t have to come from money. You don’t have to come from nice houses or anything to be at the top level.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM.
