Jacks defeat Chelan in OT

QUINCY — Tied at two entering overtime, Quincy junior Danny Mendoza delivered a goal to give his Jackrabbit squad a 3-2 lead over Chelan, eventually holding on for their fourth league win of the season.

“I just saw an opening –—I asked Erick (Zepeda) for the ball, and luckily he gave me a good ball,” Mendoza said. “I slotted it right past the keeper’s hands, went right below his hands, and it was a beautiful goal.”

Quincy led 2-1 for nearly half of the game on Thursday night, but Chelan managed to tie the match at two on a counterattack in the 68th minute.

“We were just too confident and comfortable with the lead,” Quincy head coach Hector Vaca said. “Guys playing out of position, and caught us on a counterattack.”

The Jacks dominated possession of the ball against Chelan but struggled to put together shots on the Mountain Goat net in the second half.

“We were trying to make it look too good, too fancy,” Vaca said. “We were trying to make it look nice and get those beautiful goals, but like we’ve been preaching to these guys all year — ‘It doesn’t matter how the goal looks, as long as it hits the back of the net.’” 

Jackrabbit sophomore Ken Morales opened the scoring with a goal in the 10th minute, capitalizing off a corner kick for Quincy. Morales scored a goal in the eighth minute, but the goal was called back due to an offsides penalty.

After Chelan tied the game in the 36th minute, sophomore Brayan Nunez’s goal in the 37th minute quickly gave Quincy back the lead.

“It’s always a goal of ours to get early goals,” Vaca said. “Today it happened a little earlier than we have been in the past, so it was good. It was important for us to get an early goal and set the tone; keep up the intensity and keep up the hard work that these guys have been showing.”

“It showed us that we could score a goal, because we went the whole half with only scoring one goal,” Nunez said. “How we were playing, we had possession the whole game, we just needed the goal. For us, it was just finishing — that was all we had to do.”

Quincy’s first shot on goal of the second half came after Chelan tied the game in the 68th minute.

“We had to handle the pressure better,” Nunez said. “When we would get the ball we would rush, we’d think we didn’t have any time, but how we were possessing the game we could have easily went to the goal.”

Even though Chelan managed to send the game to overtime, Mendoza’s goal in stoppage time of the first overtime period gave the Jacks a 3-2 lead.

Mendoza received a cross from his teammate, sophomore Erick Zepeda, and took a brief pause to angle up his shot.

“It was just tunnel vision at that point,” Mendoza said. “I was really focused on getting a good shot on the ball and getting it on target. That’s the most important part.”

Thursday’s game was Quincy’s second game in five days; the Jacks defeated Cashmere 3-1 on Tuesday and traveled to Royal on Saturday. Results from Saturday’s match were not available in time for press deadline.

“It’s been tough, but like I tell these guys, we’ve got to adapt to it,” Vaca said. “We can’t just not show up to one game. That’s why it’s important to us to get the results we want early so we’re able to rest some of our guys that have been playing the most.”

Box score

CHEL: 1-1-0 2
QNCY: 2-0-1 3

    Quincy junior Kilian Roos (8) leaps up to head the ball to a teammate in the first half against Chelan.
  

    Quincy junior Kasey Toevs (21) brings the ball upfield against Chelan.
  

    Quincy players celebrate with sophomore Ken Morales, center left, after Morales scored in the 10th minute against Chelan.