HOQUIAM –When the Hoquiam Grizzlies needed him most, Connor Darras was at his best.

Darras scored both goals in Hoquiam’s 2-0 win over the previously undefeated Forks Spartans.

The win tied Hoquiam (11-2 overall, 5-1 Evergreen 1A) with Forks (10-1, 5-1) in the 1A Evergreen league and gave the Grizzlies a co-championship with the Spartans.

With the league title on the line, Forks came out with a lot of intensity and physicality in its play.

Hoquiam head coach Fidel Sanchez said he expected to Forks to be aggressive out the gate and knew his team needed to match the their intensity to pull ahead on goal differential.

“We were in the right mentality. We wanted a league title and we were the favorite to win league,” he said. “We wanted to come forward and pressure right away to get these goals we needed for the goal differential.”

Forks’ backline pressured to keep Hoquiam’s forwards in check with the Spartans having to turn to back-up keeper Luis Torres due to the suspension of starter Gabriel Terrones.

Hoquiam made it a priority to test the young keeper and Darras came through with a shot from outside the 18-yard box that bounced off Torres’ hands and trickled into the back of the net in the 39th minute.

Darras said he was a bit surprised his ambitious attempt on goal found a way in.

“I was trying to test the new goalie to see what he had,” he said. “Not going to lie, he should have saved that, but sometimes you just have to nail it.”

In search of the tying goal, Forks ramped up the offensive pressure in the second half.

This opened up passing lanes the Spartans had closed in on during the first 40 minutes of play, which allowed Hoquiam’s midfielders to get aggressive with their through balls.

The strategy paid off when Carlos Juarez found Darras streaking down the sideline and hit him with lead pass.

Darras got a step on his defender, then chipped the ball far post for a goa as Torres came out to challenge.

“I saw Carlos and I made eye contact with him for the run and after that it was a piece of cake,” Darras said.

Not only did the goal further secure the lead, it also tied Forks and Hoquiam in head-to-head goal differential, a tie breaker that was used to determine which team would get he No. 1 league-seed entering the district playoffs.

Once he final whistle blew, the discussion of the tie breaker scenarios to determine the top seed took center stage.

Hoquiam athletic director Mark Maxfield originally thought the teams would have to flip a coin to decide which team would be atop the 1A Evergreen.

After Maxfield talked to both coaches and going over tie break scenarios it was determined that Hoquiam had more goals scored against playoff teams in the league, giving the Grizzlies a chance to celebrate in front of the home crowd.

However, after announcing to the players that they had locked up the top seed, Maxfield continued to have discussions with a league official after Forks said they had a different interpenetration of the rules that put the result of the seeding into question.

Regardless of where they end up in the standings, Darras said the Grizzlies will take their play to new levels in the postseason.

“I’m feeling confident that if we keep playing the way we are, we’ll get better and better as a team going forward,” he said.