After surrendering a goal in the first minute of the game, Centralia boys soccer battled back — led by Brayan Orellana-Gamez’ hat trick — to pull off a 3-2 victory over Black Hills in 2A Evergreen Conference action at Tiger Stadium on Tuesday.
Centralia coach Henry Gallanger said he and his staff were worried their team would lack intensity after getting edged by rival W.F. West in PKs during a back-and-forth battle on Friday.
“We challenged them to pick it up a bit,” Gallanger said. “We gave up the goal in the first minute, but for the first time all season, we fought back from being down and won.”
Their worries were warranted as the Wolves jumped on them for the early goal on Tuesday. But the Tigers punched right back, with Orellana-Gamez scoring his first goal off an assist by Leonardo Perez to tie it up at 1-1.
The Tigers took the lead in the 21st minute when Orellana-Gamez connected on his second goal — again assisted by Perez.
Black Hills notched the equalizer in the second half before Orellana-Gamez notched his hat trick in the 60th minute from a free kick from 20 yards out — which ultimately secured the victory for Centralia.
“We won ugly tonight but that’s OK,” Gallanger said. “We’ve got to learn how to do that. We’ve improved from game to game the past few games.”
Centralia continues EvCo play when it heads to Shelton on Friday.
