Blackhawks learn their lesson, earn state berth

After playing the majority of 50 minutes in West Valley-Yakima’s end without a goal, it took Cheney a large amount of resolve to avoid pressing.

The maturity gained from coming up short a year before helped the Blackhawks to relax and put together a three-goal flurry in the second half, earning a berth in the State 3A boys soccer tournament with a 3-0 win over the Rams at Cheney High.

“The experiences that we had last year, it was pretty much we just didn’t want to be there again,” said Cheney junior defender Caleb Johnson of the 2005 team, which lost a pair of winner-to-state games, including one to WV (Yakima), and returned everybody but one senior.

“It was basically just, ‘We know what happened last year, and we’re not going to have that happen again.’ ”

Early, it looked like Cheney’s inability to finish might haunt the Blackhawks (14-4) as they outshot the Rams 9-2 in the scoreless first half.

In the 53rd minute, though, Jesse Retan put a heel on Ben Parker’s cross from the right wing, directing it right to a streaking Mitch Weller, who gave Cheney a 1-0 lead.

Three minutes later, while falling at midfield, Retan sent the ball ahead to Weller on a break, and he found Parker, who beat the goalie 1-on-1.

“We had a period in the game where we lost our composure, and we came back in the second half,” Blackhawks coach Steve Davis said. “We settled down to our style of game, and that’s a credit to this team.”

Cheney put it away in the 73rd minute, thanks to Retan’s second assist. Off a give-and-go with Weller, Retan made a pretty no-look pass between a pair of defenders to the sophomore forward, who finished the Rams off with his second goal.

Although the offense finally got untracked during those 20 minutes, it might have had as much to do with the Blackhawks’ defense.

“It was getting a little frustrating there, but that’s one thing that keeps us calm, too, when we can’t score right away,” said senior midfielder Devin Merrill of Cheney’s defense, which has allowed one goal, a meaningless tally against their subs, in four games.

“It’s the fact that they’re not getting any chances.”

Cheney outshot the Rams 17-2, yielded one corner kick and senior keeper Josh Hooley wasn’t forced to make a save.

“We’re just a unit, I think,” Johnson said. “It’s nice. We can talk about anything and not quarrel at each other.”

“Again, our defensive back four, some of the best in the GSL, are holding ground against the opposition,” Davis said. “We’re able to work together as a team and keep in good shape in the back.”

Cheney advances into a state seeding match at noon Saturday at Richland High School against Mid-Valley No. 1 Hanford. The winner of that match hosts a state first-round match, while the second-place team has to travel to the West Side.

“In other games, Dino Ramic scored two minutes into the second overtime as Hanford beat East Valley 3-2. Ben Funkhouser and Jeremy Jacobs scored in the first half for the Knights (12-3), who fall into the losers’ bracket. Hanford won despite being outshot by East Valley 17-6. Derek Rogalsky had a goal and an assist for Hanford. On Tuesday, EV will host Sunnyside – a 6-0 winner over Prosser – in a loser-out game. … Travis Green had a goal and an assist as North Central shut out Selah 3-0 in a loser-out match in the first round of regional action at North Central. Scott Harris converted Greg Conley’s cross to open the scoring at 12 minutes before Green scored in the 28th minute off an assist from Ryan Matern. James Matern added an insurance goal in the 52nd minute for the Indians (12-5), who outshot Selah 9-5. North Central advances to play West Valley-Yakima Tuesday at Yakima in a loser-out match at 5 p.m.