MADRAS — The past two seasons, the Madras boys soccer team has won the 4A Tri-Valley Conference title. And the White Buffaloes are not ready to give up their crown without any resistance.

On Oct. 3, Madras handed Crook County its first loss of the season, 2-1, with goals from junior midfielder Jesus Gutierrez and senior midfielder Eben Tapia to remain undefeated in Tri-Valley play.

“It is a huge confidence booster for us,” said Madras coach Scott Jividen. “The communication and cohesiveness was huge for us. One thing that we practiced was possession and keeping the ball on the ground, and it definitely paid off.”

Now Madras (5-2-1 overall, 3-0-1 Tri-Valley) sits alone atop the conference standings as it wraps up the first round of Tri-Valley play having already secured key wins over The Dalles and Crook County (6-1-1, 3-1), who are both ranked in the top seven of the 4A OSAA rankings.

“We knew coming in that this is a game that we could win,” Tapia said. “We have played them for many years now and we know how they play. Obviously (Crook County) was ranked really high, but we knew that we could take them on. And as a team, we were confident that we could play with them.”

In the 23rd minute, Madras broke the scoreless tie when Gutierrez found the back of the net.

But a narrow one-goal lead is typically not enough, especially when facing a team that has scored at least three goals in six straight games.

“An early goal is really, really big,” Jividen said. “But I’ve been coaching soccer, cumulatively, for 20 years now, and one goal is never enough. You always need to make sure you aren’t just settling for one goal because things can turn real quick.”

And the game turned in Madras’ favor in the 60th minute when a chip shot by Tapia was just out of the reaching goalkeeper’s gloves to give the White Buffaloes a 2-0 advantage midway through the second half.

“I attempted the shot, but it felt awkward coming off my foot,” Tapia said. “I was more trying to draw a foul and it ended up going in.”

In the 70th minute, a red card was issued to Madras at the top of the 18-yard penalty box. The ensuing free kick off the foot of Crook County senior forward Eli Oelkers gave the Cowboys their first goal and a solid chance to draw even with the White Buffaloes limited to 10 players.

“It changes the dynamic,” Jividen said on playing the final 10 minutes with only 10 players. “But with a team like this, they shift where they need to shift and when they need to shift. I think they did a really good job filling those holes even though we were down one player.”

In the final 10 minutes, the Cowboys could not find the equalizing goal. Crook County coach Bryan Housley counted 25 shots on goal throughout the match, but they could not capitalize on all those chances.

“We have set goals, we are meeting those goals,” Housley said. “We knew, we talked at the beginning of the season that we might lose a game and we need to figure out how we are going to respond to that. We were prepared for that, but it doesn’t take away the sting.”

The Cowboys, who are off to one of the best starts in program history, are hoping to learn from the loss and get back to their winning ways.

“There is a great learning opportunity with the scoreboard not reflecting how you want it to,” Housley said.