Prosser walks off field, forfeits CWAC match to Ephrata with six minutes remaining
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Corbin Sager (8) works to control the ball in the box on a corner kick during Tuesday’s CWAC match with Prosser.
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Ephrata striker Juan Mendoza (5) takes a shot as the Prosser goaltender Jon Delgado and Nikolas Rodriguez (25) collapse on the defense during the first half of Tuesday’s CWAC match.
EPHRATA — It went in the books as a 4-nil Ephrata victory, but Tuesday’s Central Washington Athletic Conference soccer match at Tiger Field was anything but ordinary.
Chief official Jeff Cleveringa said he’d never seen anything like it in all his years of high school officiating and is uncertain what CWAC ramifications Prosser will face for walking off the field while the match was still in play.
“They just decided they were leaving, so they forfeited and walked off the field,” he said. “The players were playing well. But apparently (Prosser coach Ricky Ruiz) wasn’t pleased with several issues and he was finally issued a second yellow card.”
Ruiz was on a slow boil from the opening whistle. The Tigers, fighting for their district tournament lives, scored less than a minute into the match and that didn’t set well.
Two minutes later, Ruiz exploded into a sideline tirade and marched halfway onto the field, earning the first yellow card from Cleveringa. The normal banter escalated throughout and finally blew up in the 74th minute when Cleveringa issued Ruiz a second yellow, ejecting the Mustang coach with 6:19 remaining in the match.
Instead of leaving quietly, Ruiz grabbed his gym bag and walked directly across the field, disrupting play with yet another verbal assault on the refereeing crew.
Cleveringa blew his whistle to resume play, but the buzz throughout the Prosser bench was like a building storm. Two unidentified Mustang players wrapped in blankets walked down to midfield where Ephrata coach Ivan Garay stood and talked briefly with the Tigers coach.
“You don’t want to do that. I’ve never shown Prosser anything but respect,” he called at the two as they walked away.
Within minutes, the Prosser bench packed up its stuff and quit with six minutes remaining in the match, trailing 4-nil. It was a players decision.
“To be honest, I wish they wouldn’t have done it,” Garay said. “I told them I understand you don’t believe the reffing is fair, but I still wish you guys the best and respect Prosser.”
To their credit, a half a dozen players did come and shake Garay’s hand. Maybe it was the final straw in a 0-13 season, but Ephrata (4-6-2, 2-4 CWAC) has little time to worry about it with a make-or-break match in Selah (10-1-1, 6-0) on Saturday.
The Tigers have to win out to earn a berth in the CWAC District tournament and they played with a sense of urgency against the Mustangs (0-13, 0-6). Noe Sanchez scored in the first minute and Edwin Gomez-Nazario made it a 2-nil difference in the 36th minute.
Garay moved goalkeeper Josh Benthem to the field and the 6-foot-4, junior, found the back of the net twice in the second half.
“I love playing in the field,” Benthem said. “We came ready to play today. I don’t really know what their coach was complaining about really, but (the Prosser players) kept talking the whole match.”
The Tigers remaining schedule is at Selah on Saturday, then finish at home with Quincy (April 24) and Othello (April 26). They currently sit seventh in the standings where the top six advance to the district tournament. Grandview has a game up on Ephrata with Quincy, Ellensburg and Toppenish remaining. The Tigers might get help, but realistically will need to win out to continue to postseason.
“If we can score first and build off that intensity,” Benthem said. “It’s going to be harder, but we can do it.”