Soap Lake fights back to beat Waterville in second overtime, 46-40
Soap Lake quarterback Diego Garza fights his way downfield with a defender clinging on in the second half on Thursday night at Soap Lake High School.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald
Soap Lake quarterback Diego Garza holds off the defender as he rushes downfield in the second half against Waterville on Thursday at Soap Lake High School.
Soap Lake's Diego Garza reaches past the pylon as he makes his way in for the rushing touchdown on Thursday night at Soap Lake High School.
Soap Lake's Alex Bustos makes his way toward the end zone in the second half against Waterville on Thursday night at Soap Lake High School.
Soap Lake's Besim Cassedy powers down the field against Waterville on Senior Night on Thursday at Soap Lake High School.
Soap Lake's Axel Soltero waves for the pass in the end zone in the second half on Thursday night at Soap Lake High School.
Soap Lake senior Dawson Kilmer fights to take down the Waterville rusher in the final minutes of the fourth quarter on Thursday night at Soap Lake High School.
Besim Cassedy makes his way into the end zone for the touchdown in the first half for Soap Lake on Thursday night at Soap Lake High School.
Soap Lake freshman Alex Bustos holds off the defender as he makes his way down the field on Thursday night at Soap Lake High School.
SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake High School football team fought back during a rainy, windy second half Thursday night at home to edge visiting Waterville 46-40 in double overtime on Soap Lake’s Senior Night.
Soap Lake’s Besim Cassedy took the opening pass in for a touchdown to put the Eagles ahead 6-0, but the home team quickly found itself in a high-scoring battle.
After a long touchdown pass, Waterville took a 20-18 lead into the second quarter.
The visitors built on their lead before the half, taking a 26-18 advantage into the locker room as the Soap Lake offense struggled to break past the pylons. Waterville added a rushing score early in the third to pull ahead with a two-touchdown advantage at 32-18.
Soap Lake fought back, capitalizing on a forced turnover to cut the deficit to 32-26 early in the fourth. Another forced fumble gave the Eagles the ball back late in the quarter, with quarterback Diego Garza running into the end zone on 4th and 15 to tie the game at 32-32 with minutes left.
On the defensive side, Garza tipped a deep pass, breaking up Waterville’s play and helping push the game into overtime.
In the first overtime, the teams matched touchdowns and two-point conversions.
Soap Lake’s defense held strong in the second overtime. Garza rushed in for another score to give the Eagles the walk-off win before being mobbed by his teammates.
Garza finished with four touchdown passes and 305 yards passing, three rushing touchdowns and 204 yards on the ground. Cassedy ended the game with four receiving touchdowns, 100 yards receiving on 10 catches and 110 yards rushing.
Axel Soltero added six catches for 85 yards, and Alex Bustos finished with five catches for 100 yards, chipping in 50 more on the ground. Soap Lake’s defense combined to force three turnovers.
Garza was filled with emotion after the win and said he was proud of his team fighting and sticking with him through the game.
“It’s heart, it’s fighting together as a team and our coaches keeping pushing us,” Garza said. “I didn’t do this by myself; we fought through this as a team, and I couldn’t do this without them.”
After falling 66-20 to Liberty Bell the week before, Garza said, the Eagles had strong motivation to come out and fight. He said his teammates are better than they think they are.
Garza said it was amazing sending the seniors off with a big victory and added he didn’t want them to go out with a loss.
Soap Lake head coach Tony Blankenship said he couldn’t have been happier with his team’s fight on Thursday night.
“I was beyond tickled proud; we just kept battling and fighting,” he said.
Blankenship said he found out just how tough his quarterback was in the comeback win. He said his quarterback and defensive back didn’t think twice about continuing to play both ways on Thursday despite dealing with some cramps in the second half.
“That’s what game changers do, they don’t come out,” Blankenship said. “He showed that.”
The Soap Lake coach said he’s hoping his quarterback’s growing confidence will roll into the fall season. Blankenship heralded his senior receivers in the win and added that he felt the unsung heroes were the linemen who battled all game.
The Eagles (2-1) will face off against Pateros on the road on Friday night at 7 p.m.
