Jacks pull in 1-0 win over Huskies

OTHELLO — The Quincy Jacks grabbed a win in a faceoff on the soccer pitch against the Othello Huskies Saturday afternoon, taking the game 1-0. 

"I thought it went well; we were pretty dominant throughout the majority of the game,” said Jacks’ head coach Hector Vaca. “There were some moments where we got a little sloppy, but we were able to respond to that and get the right things going again.” 

Jacks Goalkeeper Ramiro Beltran helped the team with two key saves for the Jacks and has been able to step up since Romualdo Sandoval’s injury against Chelan last Tuesday, said Vaca.  

Fatigue had started to take its toll on both teams, with the squads having played six games in the last two weeks and experiencing various injuries. 

“This is the tail end of our fifth game in ten days,” said Othello Huskies’ head coach Bernie Garza. We’ve been getting kind of banged up and we had a couple starters out.” 

Garza said the Huskies had been missing shots throughout the game and just weren’t able to take advantage of the opportunities they were given. 

“Right in the second half we made a critical mistake,” said Garza. “One of our defenders fouled one of their players in the box and got a kick, they converted and that was it.” 

Both teams had some key takeaways from this game with the Jacks gaining confidence in seeing that they can keep up with the Central Washington Athletic Conference teams, said Vaca. 

“We knew coming into this it was going to be a test for us in that regard,” Vaca said. 

Despite the loss, the Huskies see this game as a good marker of how well the team can handle the season going forward. They have still been able to keep strong in a long stretch of games, winning three out of their last five, said Garza.  

The Huskies will have a few extra days of practice this week giving the team some time to rest between games, said Garza. 

“We’re just going to be working on our technique and controlling the ball for the first touch, working on the passing and then work on our finishing,” Garza said. 

The Huskies will play their next game at Ephrata tonight at 6 p.m. and the Jacks will play at home against Selah tonight at 6 p.m. 

    The Huskies and Jacks had constant back and forth in Saturday’s game keeping both teams active on both defense and offense.
  

    Both teams have had a fast start to their season with this being their fifth game in the last ten days.