Huskies beat Eagles, advance to state

OTHELLO - The Huskies were on the brink of elimination as they trailed 1-0 with eight minutes to go in a loser out match against West Valley Saturday.

But Othello scored four times in the waning minutes for a come from behind win to earn a return trip to the 2A state tournament.

"I've seen us score in the last seconds, but I've never seen a team score like that in such a short time," coach Bernie Garza said. "With 10 minutes left, we pushed up all our defenders and left two back to give us five forwards. When West Valley scored their goal, they just played defense and that came back to haunt them."

Randall Harris got the Eagles on the board with a goal at the 25 minute-mark to give the visiting team from Spokane a 1-0 lead.

"The West Valley goal came on a mistake by Miguel Gonzalez who was trying to clear the ball out of danger," Garza said. "But he kicked it to a wide open player in the front of the goal and he just blasted it in from about four yards out.  I told my players at half time to stay focused and not make any more mistakes in the second half, and make West Valley pay for any mistakes they make."

The score held up until the Huskies Hugo Martinez got a goal off an assist from Jorge Campos on a corner kick in the 74th minute of action to tie the match 1-1.

"I had pushed Hugo up on a corner kick play as the ball was bouncing around in the six yard box," Garza said. "He took a hard shot with his right foot but it was blocked. But the ball came right back to him. He took a left footed shot and it went straight into the far corner of the box for the game tying goal. The bench and crowd went crazy with excitement."

A minute later, Matt Jones ran onto a through ball from Ociel Romero and put a shot past the Eagles keeper to give Othello a 2-1 lead.

"Ociel crossed a perfect shot over the keepers outstretched hands and right to Matt," Garza said. "He headed the ball straight to the bottom corner for the go ahead goal and the momentum was on our side."

Othello pushed the score to 3-1 on a kick by Jose Borero (Jorge Campos) ... the first goal of his high school career at the 80 minute-mark. Romero (Jones) made it 4-1 five minutes later to cap off a never say die comeback effort by the Huskies.

"We came into this game pretty banged up and not ready for a regional game," Garza said. "Enrique Romero hurt his knee, Jorge Campos and Miguel Penaloza(ankle), Alec Alvarez torn ACL, and Fredy Agustin was sick. All were not expected play on Saturday. But come game time Jorge, Miguel and Enrique toughed it out. Five minutes into the first half Logan Engeberg tackled Jorge right on his ankle and was done for the game."

The Huskies had 26 shots on frame to West Valley's eight. Martel Saucedo had four saves for the Othello.

The Huskies (16-3), hit the road Wednesday to face Cheney (17-0), the top seed out of the Great Northern League in the quarterfinal round of the 2A state playoffs on the artificial turf at Gonzaga Prep High School at 6 p.m.

"We have never played on turf so this will be a disadvantage for us," Garza said. "But it will be a good opportunity to see how we handle this type of situation and be ready if we make it the final four."