Jacks take bronze in districts

RICHLAND – The Jacks (8-5-3) earned a win against Ellensburg on Tuesday evening for third place in districts and moved onto the Crossover bracket. 

“It went really good for us,” said Jacks head coach Hector Vaca. “We were able to control the majority of the game.” 

In the first half, Deniel Mendoza scored off an assist by Jose Garcia for the first goal of the game, seven minutes in. In minute 28, Edwin Hernandez assisted Brayan Nunez with another score.  

In the second half, Erick Zepeda made a pass to Ken Morales in minute 69 for the final score of the game. 

Vaca said the Jacks had kept up a solid defensive performance in the game by keeping the ball away from Ellensburg. Romualdo Sandoval and Ramiro Beltran both made saves for the Jacks, preventing Ellensburg from making a single score. 

The coach said this was a full team win as everyone played their part. Toward the end of the game, Vaca opted to use some players who don’t typically get to see a lot of play time to give the starters the opportunity to get some rest. 

“Just highlighting everybody, they all did very well,” said Vaca. 

This game saw a few key players return, making this the first time since the end of April that the team had a full squad going into a game, said Vaca. Players like senior Kasey Toevs had been out due to injury for the past couple of weeks. 

“It’s nice to have a full squad and everybody healthy,” he said. 

After taking the third-place spot in districts, this places the squad in a crossover bracket where they will go on the road to face the number one team from District Six. Vaca said, the focus for the Jacks going into that game is making sure that they are rested up and all their players stay healthy. 

“Preparing for a team that we haven’t really seen or heard of, it’s just going to be difficult and we’re just going to have to be studying a lot of film,” he said. 

Vaca said it has been important to the team, especially to make it to state in their first year back playing in the 2A league. He is confident in their abilities that they’ve shown throughout this season and the strength they’ve shown after coming out of the 1A. 

“I think overall I’m pretty proud of the boys and I’m happy with how the season is going,” said Vaca. 

Their Crossover game will be on the road this Saturday against an opponent from District 6. Information about the results of the event will be published at a later date. 

BOX SCORE:  

QNCY:2-1: 3
ELLN: 0-0: 0 

    Maximo Serrano from a previous home game prepares to use his footwork to outmaneuver his opponent. The Jacks had every member of the team participate in their win against Ellensburg.
  

    Taken from a game earlier in the season, Kasey Toevs competes with a player from Chelan for possession of the ball. Toevs has been out the past few weeks due to injury and should be set to make a return to the field.
  

    Jose Garcia carries the ball toward the goal for a score. The Jacks hope to make a return to the state tournament in their first year back in 2A.