Blackhawks fight way back to final four

Whether spurred by the demands of tradition or hungry for what they have yet to achieve, the Cheney Blackhawks are undeniably on a mission – and they’re halfway there.

Second-half goals by Alex Adams and Xavier Day provided all the margin goalkeeper Andrew Wilson and a young back line would need to preserve a 2-0 quarterfinal victory over visiting Interlake on Saturday – sending the Blackhawks to the final four of the State 2A boys soccer championships for a third straight year.

They’ll play the 6 p.m. semifinal Friday at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner against Toppenish, a 3-2 winner over Pullman – but, not surprisingly, they have bigger things in mind.

The Blackhawks are in their fifth straight state tournament and have reached the last two 2A title games, only to lose both times.

“It pushes us a lot,” Adams said. “Losing in the state championship twice, it hurts. That’s what drives us to keep going and get back there – and next weekend we’re going to take care of business. It’s our time.”

That’s quite a statement for a team that graduated eight seniors a year ago, has only four this year and starts four new faces in front of Wilson, three of them sophomores. And yet the Blackhawks have pitched two shutouts in the playoffs and are now 17-3.

They dodged a few bullets Saturday – starting just 6 minutes into the game when Interlake’s Ben Titus rocketed a point-blank opportunity over the crossbar. But the defense actually tightened up as the Saints increased the pressure in the late minutes, and a flying save by Wilson on Eric Fergerstrom’s blast in the 67th minute all but sealed the deal.

“They’ve saved me a lot,” Wilson said of defenders Dimitriy Topov, Evan Cook, Tyler Pratt and Nathaniel Roley. “I’m really proud of them. The two shutouts on this road to state speak to how much they’ve grown.”

The Saints (10-9-1), who were playing without injured All-Kingco forward Andy Fordyce (knee injury), still had a slight edge in the run of play in the first half, but a reminder from Cheney coach Mark Kiver to his players to stay wide and work the corners and not always attack directly made a difference.

Just two minutes into the second half, Adams juked free of Interlake’s Baidar Oweis and whipped a left-footed shot past keeper Alex Quintana. Six minutes later, he was the middle man on a pretty counterattack, taking a pinpoint clear from Austin Walker and threading a perfect pass between two defenders to Day, who slotted a shot into the corner of the net past a charging Quintana.

Though he’s taking a relatively young team to Sumner, Kiver knows the youngsters have been along for the ride before.

“It’s all about the tradition – I think that’s what kind of sits in the back of their heads,” he said. “They have a lot to live up to. If we get on them hard for a mistake, they know, ‘I have a big role I need to fill out there.’ And they’ve kept on working to get better every game.”

•Luis Alcala scored in the 68th minute and the Toppenish Wildcats held on for a 3-2 victory over the Pullman Greyhounds in a 2A quarterfinal in Pullman.

Faustino Teran found the net from 35 yards out in the 26th minute to stake Toppenish to a 1-0 lead. Alcala also picked up an assist on the Wildcats’ second goal – in the 30th minute.

Kevin Spangenberg scored Pullman’s first goal.