Huskies run away with 5-1 win over Selah

OTHELLO — The Huskies’ 5-1 win over Selah on Saturday marked the team’s seventh win in their previous eight outings, priming them for a run at the No. 2 seed in the Central Washington Athletic Conference tournament in May.

Othello, now 9-4-1 on the year, controls its own destiny, earning a bye and hosting a district playoff game.

“It gives us good momentum toward the end of the (regular) season,” Othello Head Coach Bernie Garza said. “We’re going to try and finish strong, and then get some momentum going into the playoffs.”

Five different Huskies scored goals in the win, with sophomore Jose Cabrera scoring first in the 16th minute on a header off a corner kick by senior Miguel Sanchez.

“The fans inspired me to play as best as I could,” Cabrera said through a translator.

Less than a minute later, junior Cristian Torres scored from 30 yards out to give Othello a 2-0 lead. In the 31st minute, Othello’s lead moved to 3-0 on a goal by junior Anthony Abundiz. Cabrera attempted a bicycle kick that landed right in front of Cabrera, who tapped the ball in for an easy goal.

“We’ve been working on that at practice,” Garza said. “It’s not going to be a perfect shot, you can’t dribble all the way in and beat players. Cristian (Torres) hit a rocket from 30 yards out, and then we had a missed bicycle kick that deflected off to a header and those two breakaways toward the end. It’s just different players – we’re not one (player), we’re well-rounded.”

Selah came out strong in the second half, scoring a goal in the 57th minute to cut the lead to 3-1. However, Huskie sophomore Ruben Mancilla and senior Abraham Segura both scored on breakaways to give Othello its eventual 5-1 win.

“(The Vikings) were just hungry for a goal,” Garza said. “They’re down 3-0 and looking to make

something happen. They switched the lineup and put two guys up top – they had one guy in the first half – so that added a little bit of pressure.”

Winners of seven of their last eight games, Othello has outscored its opponents 23-7 over that span, which also includes five clean sheets.

“It’s a lot of confidence for the guys,” Garza said. “They went down to Prosser and scored two all game long in pouring rain, so we had to step it up a notch. (Selah) had a good strategy of keeping us away and putting everybody in front of the goal and countering. For the first 10 minutes, it was a tough battle, but once we got that first one the next ones fell.”

Othello’s goalkeepers, sophomore Ismael Torres and senior Erick Sandoval, each started a half in Saturday’s win. Torres played in the first half, while Sandoval started the second half.

“The combination of those two goalies, it’s working out,” Garza said.

Othello has two games remaining in the regular season; a road matchup against Ephrata on Tuesday and a home contest against Ellensburg on Saturday.

“It inspires the team to keep playing well, that way we can go far into the playoffs,” Cabrera said.

Ian Bivona can be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box Score

OTH: 3-2 5

SEL: 0-1 1