Weiser boys earn top seed, first round bye in soccer playoffs

by Nancy Grindstaff
 The Wolverines boys soccer team earned a first seed going into the district playoffs, as well as the first-round bye, with an impressive 8-1 victory over Fruitland Thursday, Oct. 7.
 District playoffs began Saturday, Oct. 9, with Payette knocking Fruitland out of district competition. McCall played the Ambrose School Tuesday, Oct. 12. The score of that match was not available at time of publication.
 Thursday, Oct. 14 is the championship game. Location is yet to be determined.
 Weiser finished the regular season 10-2-2 overall and 8-0 in SRV conference play, and tallied 50 goals, with 44 of those scored in conference matchups.
Weiser 8, Fruitland 1
 The Wolverines racked up six goals in the first half of Thursday’s trip to Fruitland, starting inside the first two minutes when Weiser senior playmaker Edgar Torres took a pass from Marcos Tarelo, blasting the ball into the goal.
 Weiser continued their offensive foray over the next 12 minutes, maintaining control of the ball and breaking past the Grizzlies defense for multiple goals. Junior forward Alex Magana netted a goal off a pass from Torres at 7 minutes. A minute later, senior halfback Alfonso Hernandez and junior forward Brian Munoz paired up, with Munoz adding the third goal to the Wolverines first-half run.
 At 10 minutes, Torres dished another pass over to sophomore forward Danny Clemmer who made good on the shot and moved Weiser’s lead to 4-0. Four minutes later, junior defender Kasey Kautz lofted the ball up field to an open Magana. Magana dribbled the ball to the goal, knocking it in for the 5-0 lead.
 Freshman Matthew Perez came off the bench to score a goal from the left side, curving the ball around and behind Grizzly goalie Raul Chaves, hitting the back of the net and adding Weiser’s sixth goal of the first half.
 In the second half, Wolverine seniors turned the game over to Weiser’s younger, hungry players. Goalie Justin Padilla moved to halfback, relinquishing his keeper spot to freshman Diego Delgadillo.
 The first 24 minutes were a defensive battle, but Fruitland’s Francisco Lopez followed the ball in, snagging it when Delgadillo was on the ground with a save that escaped his grasp.
 Weiser responded when Clemmer and Magana got the ball into scoring position, with Chavez and one of his defenders tangling as he moved across to the right side. Weiser’s Perez, who was mixed up in the play, fell just to the right of the ball. He moved around and put his left foot out, nudging it into the goal.
 Padilla put the icing on the cake just before the final whistle, taking a pass from Clemmer and spiking it through the air squarely past Chavez from about 15 yards for the 8-1 win.
 The Wolverines recorded 14 shots, and 8 shots on goal. Padilla made one save in the first half, and Delgadillo made three in the second.