Wolverines hold early week opponents to ties

 Weiser’s boys’ varsity Wolverines started out a three-game week with a pair of ties, ending Monday’s non-conference game in Emmett with a 2-2 finish, and holding The Ambrose School at home to 1-1 on Tuesday.

 In Emmett the Huskies went ahead by one goal in the first half, scoring at the 24th minute. The Wolverines came back in the second half at the 64th minute with Jai Cervantes (6) landing a goal. At 80 minutes, Yovani Ramirez (11) assisted Carlos Garcia (7) on another goal, putting Weiser up 2-1. 

 The lead got away three minutes later, when Emmett scored a second goal, with the game ending in the 2-2 tie.

 During the match, the Wolverines took a total of 16 shots, nine of them on goal. In the goalkeeper’s box for Weiser, Shayd Crossley had 11 saves to his credit.

 Back home on Tuesday, the Wolverines had been looking forward to a rematch with The Ambrose School Archers after a 4-2 loss to them earlier in the season.

 The Wolverines scored the first goal early in the game when Santi Perez (9) took a perfect pass from Gonzalo Perez (18), drilling the kick behind the Ambrose keeper.

 A Weiser foul in the second half set up a scenario for the Archers to score, and they did just that on a penalty kick, taking the game to 1-1.

 It was an exciting and hard-fought match to the end, with both teams hustling for dominance the entire time.

 “Good effort,” coach Kathy Bokides said. “I don’t think we played as well in the second half as the first. The first half it seemed like we were passing and controlling. The thing is, you guys really brought it back together at the end. That beautiful passing at the end, it was just great. 

 “I think it was more in the first half,” she added, “you guys are so generous with the ball.  Sometimes you just need to take the shot yourself. You pass and pass to your partners, which is great, and sometimes I think you’re just trying to get that most perfect shot there is, and we lose an opportunity. And we had just one mistake (foul). One foul, one mistake, that’s what got us, and that’s the way it goes.

 “We’re on a two-game tie streak, and it’s better,” Bokides said. “You’re scoring and you’re having the opportunities.”

 “And, you’re connecting passes,” assistant coach Zach Rose pointed out.

 Currently leading in the SRV conference, Payette’s Pirates brought their game to the Wolverines on Thursday. 

 Weiser fell behind by two goals in the first half, but it turned into a whole new game in the second 40 minutes of play.

 Every Wolverine went into the game fired up and ready to challenge and get past Payette’s fast moving game style. Dribbling the ball within shooting distance of the goal, Weiser’s Santiago Perez (9) beat a Payette defender, taking a quick spin and a hard boot on the right side to put Weiser on the board early in the half, cutting Payette’s lead to 2-1.

 The Pirates scored another, reclaiming their two-goal lead. Both teams going toe-to-toe the entire half, Carlos Garcia (7) received a pass on the left, dribbling hard and cutting in toward the goal on the left. Gonzalo Perez (18) moved in front of the goal on the right, took Garcia’s pass and headed the ball into the net to close the gap, again narrowing Payette’s lead by only one.

 The Wolverines continued their comeback attack, but ran out of time, taking the 3-2 loss.

 Weiser took six shots on goal, and, in the goal box, Shayd Crossley made eight saves against the Pirates.

 “When you guys pass, oh my goodness, you have those little give and go’s, and you had that passing in the middle, that makes a huge difference,” coach Kathy Bokides told her team. 

 Anticipating his return to the goal box after a couple of weeks healing from a concussion, Diego Delgadillo encouraged the team, “Gonzo’s goal was so classic. And, Santi’s. We just need to play like that the whole game.”

 Garcia (7) added, “We’ve just got to set the tone up at the beginning of the game.”

 Two games are on this week’s schedule, the first played in Fruitland Tuesday, Sept. 26, and the second one here Thursday, a non-conference match with Nyssa. McCall’s Vandals will  come down on Tuesday, Oct. 3, for senior night and wrapping up the 2023 regular season. District play-offs are on the schedule for Oct. 10 and 12, with the district champion winning a berth to state championships. The district runner-up will  meet District 4’s third-place finisher in a state play-in game on Saturday, Oct. 14, in Jerome.