Move to CWAC good opportunity for Jacks soccer, coach says

QUINCY — Quincy boys soccer coach Hector Vaca said he expects the Central Washington Athletic Conference to be a tougher test for his team. And that’s good.  

“I’m excited for the boys. I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for them to show off their skill, show how good they are,” he said. “We have a lot of great, talented soccer players here in Quincy, and I think this is a great opportunity for them to showcase that.” 

Quincy moved up to the Class 2A CWAC for the 2024-25 school year after the latest Washington Interscholastic Activities Association reclassification. Previously, Quincy spent four years in the Class 1A Caribou Trail League.  

Irrespective of the classification, Quincy has a history of good soccer teams, being ranked first in the state in Class 1A for a long stretch of the 2023 season. But high school teams change every year, and the Jackrabbits graduated a lot of seniors off that team. In addition, Vaca was new to the program, and it took a while for the team to adjust, he said. 

“It was my first year coaching; it was a new system I wanted to implement. It was just a transitional period for us last year,” he said.  

But the Jacks made those adjustments. The players who are now seniors and juniors put in the work, Vaca said.  

“Those guys really stepped it up last year,” he said.  

By the end of the 2024 season, the Jacks were, in the coach’s opinion, a solid team, and that will help them going into 2025. 

“Building off the momentum we ended on last year,” he said.  “I think toward the end of the year we ended up playing pretty well. We were 10 minutes away from the Final Four.”  

The building blocks are in place, he said, even with the tougher competition. 

“The pieces are there. The depth is there,” Vaca said. “A lot more guys are playing year-round, and I think that helps.” 

Vaca said in his system the midfielders are among the most crucial pieces, and the Jacks return a lot of experience at midfield, as well as at defenders in the backfield and in goal.  

Vaca knows the CWAC teams, he said, and he expects the league schedule to be a challenge. 

“I’m from Yakima, so I’m familiar with the valley, just from growing up there, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that they play hard. No game is going to be easy this year,” he said. “I’m expecting a lot of really hard-fought, tight games.”  

Even facing a tough league Quincy should be competitive.  

“I definitely feel like we have everything we need to compete,” he said.  

Quincy Boys Soccer schedule 

March 11 at Eisenhower High School, 7 p.m. 

March 13 vs. Cascade High School (Leavenworth), 6 p.m. 

March 15 at King’s High School, 3 p.m. 

March 18 vs. Chelan High School, 6 p.m. 

March 20 vs. AC Davis High School, 6 p.m. 

March 22 at Othello High School, noon

March 25, vs. Selah High School, 6 p.m. 

March 27 at Ephrata High School, 6 p.m. 

April 1 at Grandview High School, 6 p.m. 

April 5 vs. Ellensburg High School, 12 p.m. 

April 8 vs. Ephrata High School, 6 p.m. 

April 10 at Toppenish High School, 6 p.m. 

April 15 vs. Prosser High School, 6 p.m. 

April 17 vs. Othello High School, 6 p.m. 

April 22 at Selah High School, 6 p.m. 

April 26 vs. East Valley High School (Yakima), noon

    Ken Morales, Quincy, maneuvers among defenders in a 2024 non-league game. Quincy’s move to Class 2A will be an opportunity for the Jacks, said Coach Hector Vaca.
  

    Quincy sophomore Erick Zepeda (17) scored a goal against Toppenish in the second round of the 1A Boys State Soccer Tournament last May. That same weekend, he scored another against Vashon Island in the state quarterfinals.
  

    The Quincy Jacks were the No. 10 seed in the 1A Boys State Soccer Tournament last year.