Wahluke comes up short in district championship match

YAKIMA — The Warriors dropped a hard fought physical 1-0 match to Connell at Yakima’s Marquette Stadium May 11.

The loss to the Eagles was Wahluke’s third near miss of the season with the SCAC champion, but coach Arthur DeVictoria was unconcerned. Before the kickoff, he treated it as a seeded game.

“We don’t have to win this one,” he said. “What we need to do is keep our focus for state.”

That may not be an easy task now, however, as the Warriors star forward and scoring leader Manny Hidalgo suffered an injury during the Connell game. Wahluke was awarded a penalty kick on the play, but Hidalgo was unable to take it. His substitute did not convert.

As of Sunday, DeVictoria had not checked on Hidalgo and did not know his status for the first round match with Chelan, which took place Tuesday. The results of the contest were not available at press time.

Wahluke 2, Royal 1

Wahluke ended a 6-year state tournament drought last week after tipping Royal, 2-1 in a district semifinal shootout match at Royal on Tuesday, May 9.

It was another hotly contested rivalry game that lasted nearly two and a half hours with the teams knotted 1-1 at the end of regulation and two overtime periods.

The match then went to a shootout, which did not settle the matter. The teams executed a second shootout, but were still deadlocked. The contest was finally settled when the 11th kicker for Wahluke converted.

“It was the longest game I’ve ever been involved with,” DeVictoria said.

Royal found the back of the Warrior box early on when Oscar Mendoza headed the ball past Wahluke’s flapping keeper off a Sergio Mendoza assist to put the Knights up top 1-0 at the 8:42 mark.

It was the lone goal in the first half of play.

Alex Valdez leveled it 1-1 on a penalty kick in the 58th minute. Things got a bit chippy midway through the second half as several players took hard tumbles to the turf, but no one was ejected from the contest.

Wahluke outshot Royal 12 to 11 throughout the overtime periods. The Warriors keeper Ulysses Gonzalez had eight saves in the contest; CJ Quintero recorded one save for the Knights. Royal was whistled for 14 fouls, Wahluke committed nine.

The victory erased six good but frustrating years for the Warriors who had missed every state tournament since 2011.

Wahluke was a perennial state tournament powerhouse between 1995 and 2011, having been to the big dance 13 times and being crowned champion five times.

DeVictoria would not compare this team to any of those, saying “Different time, different players.” But he did say he believes this team can win the title.

“If they play their game, they can do it,” he said.