Wahluke Warriors roll past Winlock/Toledo, Royal up next
MATTAWA — Yerik Arelliano and Jerardo Guerrero scored two goals each and Wahluke shut out Winlock/Toledo 4-0 in quarterfinal action in Mattawa Saturday morning.
The lopsided win had players and coaches alike grinning from ear to ear.
“It (the win) feels good… the boys played really well today,” said Warriors coach Arthur de Victoria. “We really didn’t know anything about this team. I tried looking them up online to get video on them, but there was nothing on them. When they got off the bus I said, ‘Oh my gosh…that’s a big group of boys.’”
The United may have been big in stature, but it was the smaller, quicker Warriors squad that came up large in the match.
“We opened the scoring in the 23rd minute on a goal from Yerik off an assist from William Dominguez,” de Victoria said. “The second goal came from Jerardo in the 28th minute with an assist from Edwin Martinez. Edwin took a nice shot from the left of the field that the goal keeper parried into the path of Jerardo.”
Down 2-0 at the break the United came out with a renewed purpose in the second half. But it mattered little as the stingy Wahluke defense was expecting an all-out effort by the home team to get back in it.
“We had to weather a hard working team as they came out fighting,” de Victoria said. “The first 20 minutes we had to defend really well.”
Guerrero scored his second goal of the match in the 77th minute on another Dominguez assist. The final goal of the game came from Arelliano in the 88th minute of play on an assist from Jose Garcia.”
Pretty impressive win considering the Warriors have played the last three matches without a main cog in their lineup in Ricky Cabrera who broke a bone in his foot.
“We’ve been working on certain drills the past couple of weeks as I have my big man (Cabrera) sitting on the bench and that has changed our whole game plan,” de Victoria said. “We’ve been working hard trying to get ready because we were hoping we’d match up with Royal in the semifinals and its come down to just that now… two SCAC teams from our side of the bracket going at it for a chance to play in the championship match. It’ll be a good game. We’ve met four times this season and have beaten them just one time. Hopefully the fourth time will be the charm for us.”
The Warriors and Knights take the field at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner Friday at 4 p.m. The winner of the contest plays for the state championship Saturday. The loser plays for third place.
Wahluke 2
Bridgeport 0
Wahluke traveled to Bridgeport May 15 and came away with a 2-0 win in the opening round of State play.
“We played a spirited Mustang team,” coach de Victoria said. “Bridgeport had a very small field and it hampered our style of play.”
It didn’t take long though for the Warriors to gain the upper hand.
“Yerik Arelliano scored in the 13th minute,” de Victoria said. “He was able to find some space and time on the right side of the field and slotted the ball into the back of the net.”
The second score of the match came in the second half.
“Edgar Villa got the goal in the 54th minute,” de Victoria said. “It came off an assist from our keeper Melchor Celaya who was able to punt the ball up the field. Edgar was able to head the ball into the net over the Bridgeport goalie.”