Huskies lose non-league match to Highland

OTHELLO — Non-league games this late in the season are more about pride than anything else. Reese Jones’ attempt to tie it with 10 seconds remaining went wide, left and time ran out on the Othello Huskies comeback attempt in a 2-1 loss to Highland (7-2) of Cowiche Thursday evening at Husky Stadium.

Frankie Ramos’ goal on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute was short lived. Highland striker Ben Paniagua tied the non-league match two minutes later and Jose Serna’s header caromed off an Othello defender in what was actually an own goal for the game-winner.

“Highland was 1A state champions two years ago, so they’re tough,” Othello coach Bernie Garza said. “It was frustrating.”

The Huskies took 10 shots on goal and Huskies goalkeeper Jose Gomez made eight saves, but it was a match where neither team was able to gain any momentum until the second half. Ramos lined up for the penalty kick 17 minutes into the second half and buried it top right for the first score of the game.

“I just like to see which way the goalie is leaning and I decided to go top right with it,” Ramos said. “I set my hips a lot more than you probably should, but it works.”

Ramos gave the Huskies (9-5, 4-3 CWAC) the lead in a match that went scoreless through the first 63 minutes. But there was a weird series of events. Huskies midfielder Bernie Garza Jr. took a ball to the face and came off the field to stem the blood flow. While they were dealing with Garza on the sidelines, Othello played with 10 men for three minutes before getting the lineup straightened out.

“By the time we realized and got a guy out there, the defense wasn’t set,” coach Garza said. “That’s when they got that quick little counter move score.”

The Highland defenders were quick to the ball and Othello struggled to find a scoring sequence most of the match.

“They kept a lot of guys back and it seemed like there was always two on me at any one time,” Jones said. “We’re struggling to score and we didn’t possess the ball all that well tonight. Once we scored on the PK, we slowed down and everyone kind of stopped playing.” Othello hosts Wapato (1-11, 1-5) on Saturday and finishes the regular season at Prosser (4-9, 1-5). East Valley, Toppenish and Grandview are locked up on top of the CWAC with 5-1 records. Ephrata is fourth at 5-3 and Othello currently sits in fifth with an outside chance to host a playoff game.

“We’re going to finish up third or fourth. we can’t any higher,” Garza said. “Either way, we’re going to play Quincy or Ephrata.”

Score by halves

Highland 0 2 - 2

Othello 0 1 - 1

Scoring summary

O - Frankie Ramos, penalty kick, 63:38

H - Ben Paniagua, 65:16

H - Jose Serna, 71:36