Shoot! Tigers come back to claim extra-time win

EPHRATA — Despite being outmatched physically or speed-wise at many positions on the field, the one area the Ephrata Tigers had plenty of was determination in their soccer encounter with the Othello Huskies last night.

A late Tigers equalizer sent the contest into a tiebreaking shootout and there the hosts found a way to sneak out with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over the previously-unbeaten Huskies.

Ramon Sanchez scored in the 76th minute for Ephrata (2-2, 1-1 in Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) play) off of an assist from Travis Flint.

The score came off of a six-play buildup that countered a missed Othello chance just moments earlier.

Sanchez put in Flint’s pass from just outside the 18-yard box as he beat the Huskies’ goalkeeper as he crept up the line.

“I felt there was a good chance for us to still come back even though Othello is more skillful as a team,” Ephrata coach Keith Laughlin said. “But I think we played better as a team especially with our team linking and being able to be patient with the ball which gave us more opportunities. We were able to stay away from being as impatient as we had in some of our previous games.”

In the shootout, Ephrata pulled out a 4-3 win and clinched their comeback on Manraj Jhutty’s kick.

Othello outshot Ephrata 20-8, but Tigers’ goalkeeper Matt Helsley made eight key saves.

BG Guzman struck first for Othello (3-1, 1-1) scoring in the 32nd minute and teammate Jorge Campos came inches close of making it 2-0 just five minutes later as his attempt bounced up and off the post.

“Anytime a team is down 1-0 it is hope enough and they believe they are still in it,” Othello coach Bernie Garza said. “That miss and some of the clean looks in the second half where we missed kept them in the game. If that shot had gone in it would have been the nail in the coffin.”

Laughlin hopes the win against a strong opponent can give his program the impetus it needs to keep moving forward.

“Individually as athletes and soccer players they are better than we are,” Laughlin said. “But our guys kept their heads in it. The day before we had a really productive training and it seems that every day they seem to buy into the program more and become more patient, share the ball and that will just keep us improving every day.”

Losing early in the season could be much easier to overcome than later in the campaign where momentum is most key heading into the postseason.

“We took 20 shots in the and they took three and both teams made one shot,” Garza said. “We just couldn’t finish shots. We dominated in the second half but we just couldn’t finish it. Ephrata played a spoiler roll and maybe it’s good that we lose a game like this now instead of later on.”

Warden 2, Naches Valley 0

WARDEN — After another shut out the Warden Cougars have upped their record to 2-1 with a 2-0 defeat of visiting Naches Valley yesterday.

Warden scored its first goal in the fifth minute of the game off of a penalty kick by Alex Rangel.

The Cougars led 1-0 going into the intermission.

In the second half, sophomore Antonio Figueroa kept up his hot streak with a late goal in the 75th minute off of an assist from Carlos Gomez to ice the game and the Cougars’ second straight win.

“It was a very physical game,” Warden coach Ed Aguilar said. “The game was played mostly in the midfield and we got a very good game from Jesus Rangel and Cesar Santana who ran our defense and kept Naches out of shooting position.

Warden outshot Naches Valley 18-12 as the Cougars recorded their second consecutive clean sheet.

Quincy 3, Selah 2

SELAH — Good or bad or ugly, the Quincy Jacks will take a 3-2 win over Selah yesterday that gives them a victorious start to the CWAC campaign.

“We played really flat today,” Quincy coach Thomas Turner said. “But if we can win playing flat, that’s good I guess.”

Selah took the lead in the 12th minute of the game before Quincy’s Jesus Diaz tied the contest off of a scrap-pick up off of a corner kick, 10 minutes later.

The Jacks then took the lead at the 27th minute mark when Pedro Nunez chipped in a floater past the Selah goalkeeper  from 18 yards out.

Carlos Beltran got the assist for Quincy (3-0, 1-0).

JC Romero moved the Jacks to a 3-1 lead at the 64:00 mark but things wouldn’t get any easier as Selah mounted a furious rally attempt.

The hosts were granted a penalty kick three minutes after Romero’s goal but Quincy keeper Cody Beaumont made the pivotal save.

“Cody beat him left to make a great save,” Turner said.

Selah got a couple more shots on goal in the waning moments but the Jacks were able to fend them off to stay unbeaten in the season’s infant stages.

“It was a very fast field, like playing in a sand pit,” Turner said. “Our young kids made adjustments and JC didn’t have one of his better games. But  everyone else stood in for him and that’s an important thing to do.”

Royal 2, Highland 1

ROYAL — That’s what one could call a nice little breakthrough.

The Royal Knights behind second-half goals by Shaq Ledezma and Luis Esquivel, defeated Highland at home for the first time since 2003, 2-1 on Tuesday afternoon.

“The boys played well but we went into the break down 1-0 based on a poorly judged back-pass to our keeper,” Royal coach Jens Jensen said. “In the second half we made a few adjustment and did a better job of keeping the ball down and playing into dangerous areas and were able to stretch the Highland defense.”

Royal moves to 2-0 on the season.