Othello soccer shoots for state

OTHELLO — The Othello High School soccer team is on a roll with a nearly undefeated season and No. 7 state rating percentage index ranking.

“We're a good quality team, we score a lot of goals and we defend,” said head coach Bernie Garza.

Their overall record is 10-2-1 and have an 8-1 conference record. Their final games this season are April 19 at conference contender Ellensburg High School, East Valley (Yakima) High School on April 23 at Othello and their last game of the regular season is scheduled against Ephrata High School on April 26 at Ephrata. The results of the game against Ellensburg were not available by press time.

The Huskies’ only losses this season were to Grandview and Moses Lake high schools. Garza said that he felt like the losses could have easily gone the other way.

In the game against Grandview, Garza said they had the lead 1-0 the entire game until 10 minutes left.

“We made one mistake and they scored. That was their only shot in the whole game. We lost to them in a shootout,” said Garza.

In a non-league match against Moses Lake, Garza attributed their loss to changing out his starters. He said they were leading the game 1-0 until he pulled out his starting lineup and Moses Lake was able to score two goals on his bench players. However, he said he was okay with that.

Othello is ranked No. 7 in the 2A soccer RPI category as of April 19. Their only tie this season was 0-0 against Connell High School. Connell has been ranked No. 2 in the 1A soccer category.

Garza said the Huskies’ biggest strength is defense.

“We're a really defense-dominated team, defense then our goalie. And that's what wins tight games and big games is defense and we have a solid defense,” said Garza.

If he had to find a weakness in his team, Garza said it would be that they are slow to start. He doesn’t feel it’s a strong setback, he said, but added that would be the only thing he would want to change if he had to pick something.

Garza said there are three key players that stand out to him as the backbone to the team. The first is freshman Jose Cabrera who is leading the team and league in goals. He has scored 12 goals so far this season.

Garza described Cabrera as a very quiet and humble player.

The other two are junior Erick Sandoval, who is the goalkeeper and senior Alonzo Cruz who is a defender. Garza said Cruz is his main defender, his “wall.”

Soccer postseason starts May 3 with playoffs, in which No. 1 and No. 2 in the league have a first-round bye. May 5 is the semifinals before state on May 27-28.

“Right now, we're just really hoping to go really far in the playoffs. And the final four is our goal. I think we can shoot that; it’s just a matter of who we play in the playoffs and how things pan out,” Garza said.

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com and welcomes tips related to sports, and events in Soap Lake and Coulee City.