WP Tigers in Final Eight

PRESCOTT - In the first minute of the WP Tigers' sec­ond half against St. George Friday, it looked like the home team had a chance of gaining the upper hand against an arch rival that beat them twice before during the regular season.

After a scoreless first half, striker Ernesto Valdovinos broke through the Dragons' defenses in the 41st minute and put one in the net on an assist from Jose Pananagua. But then, the team made a classic mistake, assistant coach Jay Potts said. The Ti­gers got off their game plan.

"We got a little excited," he said. "Once we scored, we got into an offensive mindset and before we know it it's 1-1, then 2-1."

The Dragons scored in the 50th minute to tie the game and again in the 56th minute to make it 2-1 and regain con­trol of the game. The Tigers could not recover, allowing a third goal and another St. George victory in the first weekend playoff game. Christian Caro had 10 saves.

The 3-1 loss followed an earlier 2-0 defeat against the Dragons at home in Prescott and a 6-2 loss in Spokane.

"We played really well for the first 55 minutes," Potts said. "On Friday, you could feel two really good teams were playing each other. But they're undefeated for a reason. We fully plan to meet them again in the final. It's tough to beat the same team four times in a row."

The Tigers still have as good a shot as any of the remaining teams to make it to Sumner for the finals the weekend before Thanksgiv­ing. On Saturday, they beat Valley Christian 4-0 to ad­vance to the Final 8 and face defending state champions Northwest Christian in Spo­kane on Saturday. The game is at 2 pm at Whitworth Col­lege. If they get past the Cru­saders this weekend, WP will pack up and go to Sumner the following weekend.

In their game against the Panthers, WP got off to a slow start following the in­tense face-off against St. George, Potts said. Valdo­vinos was the first to score on a penalty kick in the 28th minute, followed by Ivan Figueroa in the 57th minute for a 2-0 lead. Val­dovinos scored again in the 61st minute on an assist from Paul Zamora and Armando Iglesias followed up with a similar feat and an assist from Luis Garcia in the 75th minute to make it 4-0.

In all, the Tigers had 28 shots on goal, while Valley Christian barely made it past mid field, Potts said.

"We controlled the game," he said. "They pack the box and try to counter. They're completely defensive mind­ed. They had no shots on (the WP) goal."

The next big test for the Tigers is Northwest Chris­tian, whom they defeated 5-1 in Spokane in September. But Potts said the Crusad­ers, who lost 4-0 against St. George on Saturday, have nonetheless improved sig­nificantly and could trip up WP on their way to the state championship round.

"At this level, they have earned the right to be there," Potts said about the defend­ing state champs. "They won't just roll over. We have to come to play."

To get past the Crusaders, the Tigers have stick to their defensive game plan. That means relying on three or four full backs rather than the two during much of the sec­ond half against St. George, particularly since Northwest Christian has a similar strat­egy, Pott said.

"They play like St. George but without the same (degree of) talent," he said. "They like to get it to their strikers and beat you. We have to win (this) one to play two more (in the final four). We'll be ready. We're not hanging our heads in any way."