Othello Huskies soccer looking to get on a roll
Rodney Harwood/Sun Tribune - Bernie Garza Jr. (17) goes up in traffic for a header during the first half of the Othello CWAC match with Ephrata.
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald - Othello's Jonathan Gutierrez (12) battles with Ephrata striker Luis Rodriguez for a ball at the midfield during CWAC action at Husky Stadium.
OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies have an opportunity to take advantage of teams remaining on their schedule in the bottom half of the CWAC standings as they looking to get things rolling in the right direction.
Othello (8-4, 3-3 CWAC) beat Quincy 4-2 on Saturday to wrap the week up with two wins and two losses.
“We’re right in the middle of the pack right now. We’ve already played the teams up at the top,” Huskies coach Bernie Garza said. “We’ve done some good things. We scored four against Selah and one goal against Ephrata. We just need some opportunities to finish.”
Ephrata 2, Othello 1 OT
Othello did everything but finish. Ephrata did just enough to win in their CWAC soccer match at Husky Stadium.
The Tigers scored with 20 seconds remaining in regulation when Ezequel Sandoval bombed a free kick into the box that bounced loose and Victor Sanchez poked it in 20 ticks before time ran out.
In overtime, Ephrata striker Luis Rodriguez pushed up the far sideline all the way into the box, sent the crosser to the far post, and Arbey Guerrero pounded it in in the 83rd minute for the game-winner.
Othello pushed up and challenged Tiger goalkeeper Andres Mendoza, but only scored the one goal on a Reese Jones header 30 seconds into the second half. It goes back to closure and Othello let Ephrata hang around, despite turning up the heat in the second half after the Jones score.
Jones had an open goal opportunity in the first half when Mendoza charged and got caught in no-man’s land, but the Huskie striker tried to steer it in and the ball ended up going wide.
Mendoza made a nice save in the second half when Frankie Ramos put a point-blank laser from the left wing on the near post and the Tiger senior punched it away with both hands. Mendoza finished with seven saves. Huskies goaltender Jose Gomez had five.
For all the woulda-coulda-shoulda’s in soccer, the Tigers, who hadn’t beaten Othello in the past 12 years until this season, pulled off the equivalent of football’s Hail Mary when in counted.
Othello 4, Selah 1
OTHELLO — Garza moved Reese Jones and Bernie Garza Jr. to forward after halftime and his adjustment paid dividends.
Jones scored a hat trick and Othello beat Selah. Chris Alfaro got the Huskies on the board in the first half.
Grandview 4, Othello 0
GRANDVIEW — Grandview scored three second-half goals to blank Othello. Alex Martinez led the Greyhounds with a pair of goals.