Weight lifted off Apaches’ shoulders
Angel Pantoja
Glendale High senior Angel Pantoja (10) goes up for a header Tuesday, while Nogales’ Jaime Lopes Javalera (11) and Ramses Buelna (19)
surround him at Salpointe High School in the first round of the Division II state playoffs. Nogales beat Glendale 4-2 and is now slated to travel
to Apollo tomorrow at 2 p.m. to face the Hawks in the quarterfinals.
None of Nogales High's 10 seniors-let alone the rest of the underclassmen-have
ever seen the quarterfinals of the state soccer tournament.
Thanks, in large part, to senior Gibram Carillo-Orozco's two goals Tuesday night,
that's all about to change.
Not only did Carillo-Orozco score the game's first goal in the 14th minute, but his
second netter against No. 9 Glendale in the 76th minute was ultimately the gamedecider in a 4-2 Nogales victory at Salpointe High School.
The No. 8 Apaches are now slated to face host No. 1 Apollo tomorrow at 2 p.m. in
the second round of the Division II playoffs.
"I feel a tremendous weight has come off my shoulders," Nogales head coach Hugo
Luna said. "I'm extremely happy with the result tonight. It's a good win for the kids
and a good win for the program."
"We really wanted to win this time because last year we lost," added Carillo-Orozco.
"Everyone did their best to win this game."
That game saw Glendale's Francisco Lopez tie the game at one each in the 25th
minute before Nogales' Alexis Medina put his Apaches back up with a bullet that
deflected off a Cardinal defender in the 36th minute of action.
Lopez then had a goal called back because of an offside call before teammate
Jonathon Maciel tied the score at two in the 62nd minute on a penalty kick after
Robert Gorman hauled down Lopez in the goal box.
That set the stage for Carillo-Orozco's game-winner and Jorge Miranda's insurance goal in the 79th minute on an assist from Alec Lohr.
"We started off really soft, but in the last 20 minutes we came out really hard," Medina said. "We left everything out there on the field tonight. We challenged every
ball and finished our opportunities, which helped us a lot this game."
The Apaches, though, appeared to be outplayed most of the game, but Luna knew his team's perseverance would pay off.
"Sometimes games work out like that; where one team is working, working, working and out hustling you, which is really what was going on tonight, but we were
lethal in counterattack," he explained, "so despite the fact that most of the night we had our backs to the wall, we kind of pulled a (Floyd) Mayweather (Jr.) on
them. We played defense, defense, defense-and then boom, we came back at them."
"It's disappointing," Glendale coach Gary Chavez added, "because we outplayed the other team but little mistakes-not pushing up on the ball and allowing the guy
an open kick like that-hurts.
"We dominated them, but they made the most of their opportunities. Congratulations to them because they're a good team. They made the most of their limited
opportunities."
The 11-2 Apaches will now have to face a 12-1 Apollo squad that beat Glendale twice in the regular season, 4-3 and 1-0.
"I don't know anything about them accept that they're good," Luna said. " I know they beat Glendale twice and they're ranked No. 1, so we have to be ready."
And with Apollo having scored 39 goals so far on the season, Luna's Apaches will also have to keep the Hawks' offense in check.
"We need to work on our defense," he said. "We really focus on our offense and attacking patterns and creating, but it's been a while since we really focused on
defense, so I think we need a refresher on that because our defensive pressure was lacking tonight."