Warriors ready for another competitive season
Twenty-three players turned out for Wahluke High School's midnight (12:01 a.m.) practice on the football field on March 3, the opening day of soccer practice. Coach Arthur deVictoria called it a fun thing to do, and the Midnight Warriors may do it again next year.
MATTAWA - Wahluke High School dropped a pair of boys soccer mini-games at the Highland Jamboree last week, but coach Arthur deVictoria is unconcerned.
"It was just a jamboree, two really short games," he said.
DeVictoria has 56 players in the program. He will have three solid teams, varsity, junior varsity and C squad.
The varsity announced for the early going is nearly all veteran players, and half were starters last year. They should compete for the South Central A Conference top spot again.
The varsity announced just before the jamboree included senior keeper Alan Caro, freshman keeper Ulysses Gonzalez, junior defender Manuel Rodriguez, freshman forward Emmanuel Hidalgo, senior defender Brandon Nolasco, senior defender Librado Barajas, junior defender hermilo Tlatelpa, Senior midfielder Ramon Bravo, senior midfielder Arnaldo Bravo, junior midfielder Luis Baca, senior midfielder Charlie Ramos, senior midfielder Jesus Ochoa, junior midfielder Luis Veloz, junior midfielder Faustino Dominguez, senior forward Alex Anaya and sophomore defender Juan Bravo.
The jamboree losses were to highly-regarded 2A programs West Valley and Toppenish, both by 1-0 scores. The West Valley goal came on a free kick. The Toppenish goal came on a strange play.
The Wildcats knocked down a Wahluke defender, and the Warriors let up expecting a foul call. There was none, and a Wildcat capitalized with a garbage goal.
"It was a good learning experience," deVictoria said. "You keep playing till the whistle blows."
The Warriors will have a tough SCAC opener today, playing at Highland. They'll host Naches at 4 p.m. on Thursday.