LONGVIEW — One of the phrases preached time and time again by Luis Magana is “raising the standard.”
Since he’s been at the helm of the Centralia High School girls soccer team, they’ve been in the postseason. The other side of the coin is they’ve been stuck in the Class 2A District 4 pigtail game for the last three years.
“Raising the standard” has turned into middling.
In a rematch from the season-opener back in September, R.A. Long followed a similar script to upend the Tigers 2-0 on Thursday night at Longview Memorial Stadium. The first game and the last game for Magana’s crew ended the same way, in heartbreak.
“We’re plateauing right now,” Magana said. “We don’t want to have a season where we don’t qualify for at least this game. I’ve talked to a lot of mentors and they always tell me you’re doing a good job. It is a bumpy ride; it is a process.”
It was sophomore attacker Josie Sully that made life difficult for Centralia (6-11) in the two meetings. She scored all four goals, using her speed on the outside to blow by a defender one-on-one and rifle a shot into the net.
Her two goals on Thursday came in the 27th and 68th minutes to put R.A. Long in the district quarterfinals and a date with top-seeded Columbia River on Saturday afternoon. The Rapids swept the season series with 1-0 and 3-0 verdicts.
“She likes to play between those channels and she found those channels,” Magana said. “That was frustrating.”
It took until after the post-game handshake, fist bumps with the four game officials and the final team huddle of the year for some emotions to run rampant.
Multiple Centralia parents walked over, yelled and screamed profanities in the faces of Magana and assistant coach Jesse Reinitz for a few minutes. It took an R.A. Long administrator to waltz over and scurry the angry adults away.
Magana didn’t leave his ground and was nearly motionless throughout the encounter.
“People can yell and do stuff like that and I’ll take it,” he said with a smile and a chuckle. “It’s whatever; nothing new.”
From the players’ perspective, they had their own emotions. Midfielder Yazmeen Robles was subbed off in the final five minutes of the night and showed visible tears. Dina Silva embraced Trinity Smith – one of four seniors that played their last prep match – after the team breakdown.
The last Evergreen Conference team to make the 2A state tournament was Tumwater in 2022, but since 2015, only three teams up north have made state. Tumwater again in 2019 and Black Hills in 2015.
It’s been 13 years since a Lewis County school qualified for state. The gap between the EvCo and the GSHL continues to widen.
“Bringing that culture of soccer,” Magana stated. “We have to look at higher levels like select and premier. I understand it comes down to the cost. Those summer months, get as many tournaments as possible. Get them playing early.”
Centralia had its fair share of chances to light up the scoreboard.
Eva Reinitz had a header off a counter-attack that was saved within the opening 10 minutes. The Tigers controlled possession in the final 10 minutes of the first half and the beginning 5-to-10 minutes of the second half, even with a couple looks at the goal.
Sully delivered the dagger, slipping by the backline and beating keeper Nena Venegas-Minor. Centralia ran a 4-3-3 to start and with time not on its side, it struggled to bring numbers forward.
In hindsight, Magana admitted, that could have been done quicker.
“We’re a team of two halves,” he said. “I should have started, maybe 10 minutes in, I should have put that forward up.”
The core that is expected to return for 2026 is paced by Reinitz, Cyndal Sills, Ava Blankenship and a handful of swingers that saw time on Thursday. Regardless of the commotion afterwards, Magana isn’t shying away from getting the program into the double elimination part of the bracket.
“The main goal is the players I have, they have the experience, but let’s keep them playing,” Magana said.
