Moses Lake falls to Camas in first round of state tournament

MOSES LAKE - Matched up against the No. 2 team in Washington and a top 10 team in the country, Moses Lake boys soccer gave the Camas Papermakers all it could handle in the first round of the 4A State Soccer Tournament.

However, Sam Pizot's goal in the 59th minute gave Camas the lead for good and the Papermakers were able to escape Lions Field with a 3-2 win.

"We know that they're skilled and we know that if we were going to make some mistakes that chances are they'd capitalize and that certainly happened tonight," head coach Bill Bertram said. "We made a couple mistakes there in the first half and they made us pay for them and that goes with any opponent, not just Camas."

Despite being the higher seed and the home team, Moses Lake figured to be a heavy underdog against the Papermakers. Camas finished its regular season with no losses and received its only defeat in the District 4 Playoffs against Skyview, the No. 1 team in Washington.

Camas showcased its talent early when Cameron Eyman was able to shake free from the Chiefs defense and score just four minutes into the contest.

But Columbia Basin Big Nine MVP Johnny Cortez provided Moses Lake's answer.

Cortez corralled the rebound off a corner kick and fired a shot past Camas goal keeper Sharif Batroukh in the 11th minute.

Eyman deflated whatever momentum Moses Lake had hoped to build when he scored his second goal of the match less than a minute later to put Camas back in the lead, 2-1.

The Papermakers used crisp passing to get the Moses Lake defense out of position and snatch back the lead.

"Overall my view is we played hard," Sean Cotton said. "They did work the ball better on the ground and they were very fluid at passing and we kind of got down on ourselves in the middle part ... But we kind of pushed back and we gave them a hell of a fight. We made them earn it."

Cotton, one of five seniors, tied the match for the second time after heading in a corner kick from Adrian Vasquez in the 28th minute. Cotton was able to just squeeze past Camas defender Riley Brannon for the goal, tying the score 2-2.

"I get sweaty goals, that's what I like to call them," he said. "If you work hard enough then you'll get them. If you put in the work you'll get lucky eventually and I get lucky a lot, I guess."

After intermission, the two squads remained gridlocked at 2-2 for about 20 minutes until Pizot scored the go-ahead goal for Camas.

The shot looked to be at an impossible angle, but it arched just past the outstretched arms of Moses Lake goal keeper Grant Bruneel and fell into the bottom right corner of the net.

"It was a fluke and it was actually a pass that went in," Bertram said. "That happens sometimes."

Moses Lake had a few chances throughout the second half to grab the lead or tie, but were unable to beat the Papermaker defense for a third time.

Against a Camas team that had only allowed nine goals the entire regular and postseason, the Chiefs showed why they scored a league-high 29 goals this season in Big Nine play.

"Camas isn't going away from Moses Lake feeling really super about their game with us," Bertram said. "We scored two pretty convincing goals on a good team. That just tell us that we can compete with anybody in the state."

Moses Lake will lose five seniors to graduation who provided leadership on both sides of the field: First team All-League players Cortez and Vasquez, captains Cotton and Tyler Courtright and Andrew Camren.

Despite exiting the state tournament earlier than they would've liked, the Chiefs know how successful of a year they had.

"I think we accomplished a lot," Courtright said. "I'm not disappointed in how we ended the season. I'm pretty proud of how we played."