Othello soccer remains perfect

OTHELLO — Othello’s B.G. Guzman helped the Othello boys soccer team remain perfect in Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) play Wednesday night when the junior forward recorded a hat trick in the Huskies’ 3-2 win over Toppenish.

Although Othello improved to 9-0 in CWAC play and 10-2 overall, the Huskies found themselves trailing at home just nine minutes into Wednesday’s contest. Othello fell behind 1-0 when Toppenish’s Luis Alcala scored the first goal of the match for the Wildcats.

After the Huskies found themselves trailing on their home field, the Othello offense went to work. The Huskies battled for possession of the ball before Guzman found himself in the corner of the penalty box. Guzman drew a foul in the penalty box to set up a scoring opportunity for the Huskies.

Guzman found the back of the net on his free-kick opportunity and the Huskies tied the contest 1-1.

Othello took a 2-1 lead 11 minutes later when Guzman found the back of the net for the second time following a corner kick.

Othello head coach Bernie Garza said he was impressed with Guzman’s performance Wednesday night.

“(Guzman) is a heck of a player,” he said.

The Huskies and the Wildcats battled throughout the remainder of the first half before Toppenish managed to pull even seconds before halftime.

Othello was coming off of a 4-2 non-conference loss to Connell Tuesday and Garza said his team was slow Wednesday night.

“We played at a level where we were sluggish,” he said. “We were tired and we were not communicating.”

Othello and Toppenish played through a scoreless second half before they headed into the first sudden-death overtime tied at 2-2.

Just three minutes into the extra period, Guzman broke loose from the Toppenish defense and found the back of the net for his third goal of the contest for a 3-2 Othello victory.

With the win over Toppenish, Othello stayed perfect and clinched at least a share of the CWAC title, Garza said.

“We are 9-0 and we have a big target on our backs,” he said. “We have a lot more pressure now than we had at the beginning of the season.”

Although the Huskies came away with the victory, Garza said his team did not play particularly well Wednesday.

“It is nice to know that we had an off-day and still got a win,” he said.

The Huskies will take on the Selah Vikings Saturday afternoon at Othello High School. Kick off is scheduled for 1 p.m.