Ferris Reaches District Final
Prep soccer
The goals came quickly and often for the Ferris Saxons, the defending State 4A boys soccer champions.
Just 4 minutes into Saturday’s District 8 4A second-round playoff game against Central Valley, senior Mario Vigil set the tone by punching in a shot to the far post.
Eighty minutes later, the Saxons left Albi Stadium with a 4-0 shutout win.
There was a minimum of celebrating and no high-five sightings from the businesslike Saxons. There’s more work to be done. Ferris (12-4-1) advanced to the district championship match on Tuesday against No. 1-seeded North Central (12-1-1).
The Saxons have already proved seeding isn’t everything. CV was seeded second and the Saxons No. 3 by virtue of the Greater Spokane League point system. Ferris defeated CV in league play 2-0.
This time, with a state berth at stake, Ferris won in even more convincing fashion, jumping to a 2-0 halftime lead on goals by Vigil and Kent Tisthammer. It was Vigil’s first goal of the season and Tisthammer’s third. Both also had assists.
“I was just hoping we’d score early because in all the other games, we’ve had almost 20 shots and we couldn’t put any in,” said Vigil, a defender and midfielder.
Ferris took 12 shots to CV’s eight. Saxons starting keeper Jonathan Myers finished with five saves. CV’s Travis Johnson had six.
“They didn’t really get any shots off until we were already up 3-0,” said Myers, a senior. “And most of them were just because of our mental errors. We just took it to them the whole first half and the start of the second half.”
Ferris’ four-goal output was just the fourth time this season it scored four or more goals.
“We kept the ball down on the turf and one- and two-touched the ball,” Ferris coach Robin Crain said. “And the defense played tough.”
CV, which finished its season at 11-4-1, entered with a 2.8 goals-per-game average. But it never got things going and ended its season with a third shutout loss.
“I told these guys there’s no difference losing 1-0 or 10-0 , you’re still done.” CV coach Craig Griffiths said. “We had opportunities. A few balls going back-door, a player wasn’t there, we mis-shot it, a header that could have gone in.”
Ferris tacked on a third goal when Josh Proctor drilled a shot past Johnson from 25 yards out at 43 minutes. Kevin Aronson picked up an assist.
The fourth goal was an own-goal scored when CV’s Mike Balcom tried to clear the ball on a tough angle and ended up knocking it into his team’s cage. Tisthammer played him to the ball and was given an assist.
Tuesday’s Ferris-North Central game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Albi. The two played twice this season with the Indians winning both, 4-0 in a non-league season opener and 3-1 in league play.
The winner will earn District 8’s No. 1 seed and the loser will be the No. 2 seed for next weekend’s first round of the state tournament. Their District 5/6 opponents, Pasco and Eisenhower, also play Tuesday for seeding.
Ryan Dennison dribbled past four defenders for the go-ahead goal at 69 minutes, and East Valley defeated visiting West Valley 4-2 for the District 7 3A championship.
EV (12-1-4) advances to the first round of the State 3A tournament. The Knights play Saturday at home against the Mid-Valley’s No. 2 team, which will be the loser of Tuesday’s match between Moses Lake and West Valley (Yakima).
Jesse Morris scored twice and David Ettinger had two assists for East Valley.
Tony Wacenske had one goal and one assist for the Eagles (9-7-2).
Jake Moug had three first-half assists and two second-half goals to lead Riverside over Deer Park 5-0 in a loser-out opener of the District 7 2A tournament at Riverside.
Jason Remington added two goals for Riverside (14-2-1). The Rams play for the district title, and a state playoff berth, at 1 p.m. Saturday at home against defending state champion Pullman (13-3-1).
Pullman eliminated Medical Lake (6-9-2) in the day’s first match at Riverside.