OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies (11-5) extended their postseason push after earning a close 2-1 victory in overtime against the Ephrata Tigers (7-10) in the first round of the 2A district tournament. The game winning goal came in second overtime when Othello sophomore Samuel Marroquin knocked the ball into the back of the net. 

“It was a tough game, Ephrata is definitely a tough opponent, but I feel like we had prepared well for the week,” said Marroquin. “We definitely had a good game plan and we just gave everything. We knew if this was our last game we were going to go out with a bang.” 

The game was a tight battle from the very beginning as the Tigers and Huskies battled under the hot sun. Othello scored in the first half and maintained their lead in throughout, going into halftime 1-0.

Coming out of halftime, the Tigers got themselves on the board after enough pressure on the net allowed Junior Chavez to get the ball past Othello’s goalkeeper, Giovanni Tapia. The rest of the half remained competitive as both teams worked hard to close out the game, but the goalkeepers on both sides prevented any scores and the game went into overtime. 

In the first five-minute half of overtime, Ephrata held momentum as they put consistent pressure on Othello’s goal, but neither team scored. Just as the teams began the second five-minute overtime, the Huskies gained momentum which allowed Marroquin to put the game away and send Othello on to the next round of playoffs. 

“My winger, Carlos Huaracha, whipped in across. I don’t know who headed it back in, but it came back in. I saw the goalie was out and I saw the ball come right to me and I just headed it in,” said Marroquin.  

Huskies Head Coach Bernie Garza said he was proud of the boys for not only earning the home field advantage after beating Prosser the week before and for getting the job done against Ephrata, despite struggling with finishing. 

“We’re happy to be moving on,” said Garza. “We’re still in it, we’re still alive. If there’s hope, that’s good.” 

The depth on Othello’s roster was shown in the latter half of the game as both Marroquin and Tapia stepped up for the team. The coach said that Marroquin’s overtime goal was his first score of the season and Tapia’s efforts as he filled in as goalkeeper kept the team alive throughout the game.   

Despite coming up just short of moving on in the postseason, Tigers Head Coach Ivan Garay said he was proud of the efforts the players gave against the Huskies. 

“I felt like we played good. We definitely were not disappointed at all with the way we played,” said Garay. “We were doing what we wanted to do, we limited (Othello’s) opportunities ... our effort, the heart and the smarts that we played with, I’m completely proud of the guys.” 

He said the Tigers showed great growth throughout this season to get them to this point and really started to click together as their skills and tactics improved. With the season concluding, he expects the team to come back strong again next spring. 

“We always have fight, that’s never a thing you can’t expect from our Ephrata soccer team,” said the Tigers coach. “We will always bring it to any opponent. We respect opponents, but we don’t fear them. We will go at them with our best and give them our best from beginning to end.” 

Coming out of Saturday’s game against the Tigers, Garza said the Huskies are working toward giving a few key players the chance to recover as the team was a little banged up. Despite this, he expects that Othello will put up additional strong performances as they go through the postseason. 

The coach said he wants the Huskies to work on penalty kicks before they get into the next round of playoffs since that almost became the deciding factor against Ephrata. Another key factor that will be important moving forward is learning to play in the heat as hotter May weather approaches. 

“We’ve got to play like we did (against Prosser), but a little bit better and score some more goals,” said Garza.  

Marroquin said he is ready to head into the next round of the postseason with his teammates and the Huskies are going to play at 100% from here on out as they work with a “One More Game” mentality. 

“I’m feeling pumped, man, it’s amazing it’s a great feeling,” he said. “One more game, that’s our mentality, just one more game.” 

The Huskies’ next game is on the road against Ellensburg on Tuesday at 5 p.m. 

BOX SCORE 

EPHT: 0-1-0: 1 

OTHL: 1-0-1: 2 

    Junior Chavez from the Tigers rushes down the field during Saturday’s district playoff game against the Huskies.
  

    Andrew Sorenson, a senior from the Huskies, gains possession of the ball as Damian Alvarez, a sophomore from the Tigers, works to stop the opposing push toward the net.
  

    Tomas Solano, a freshman from Othello, dribbles the ball down the field during the district playoff game against Ephrata.
  

    Ephrata senior Avian Soto prepares to send the ball across the field as the team works to score a goal against Othello in the district playoffs.
  

    Michael Medrano (15), a junior from Ephrata, and Tomas Solano (9), a freshman from Othello, leaps into the air to head the ball during Saturday’s playoff game.