Centralia College men’s soccer coach Noel Vazquez went out and bought a trophy for the inaugural Blazer Cup. Then, Centralia High School boy’s soccer coach Noel Vazquez led his squad to the championship match.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Vazquez had to return to his job as college coach — and host — at the end of the weekend, presenting the trophy to R.A. Long after the Lumberjacks beat the Tigers 2-0 in the finals at Bob Peters Field on Sunday.
“Being the Centralia High School coach, it was a little hard to give that trophy away,” he said. “But it was also very exciting as the Centralia College coach to see the smiles on the kids, and to be able to say that we put something together. It’s a 1-foot tall trophy, but people really care for it.”
With the fall season just around the corner, August is usually a time for girls soccer scrimmages and tournaments. But Vazquez, who’s just about to open fall camp for CC’s inaugural season, wanted to put something together for the boys teams in the summer, even though it’ll be another seven months until the spring season kicks off.
Six schools ended up coming, as Vazquez cut the proverbial ribbon on Bob Peters Field — at least in its capacity as a soccer venue — with its first doses of semi-competitive action.
“I’m really excited that we were able to pull this off, especially in our brand new complex, trying to show it off,” he said. “First time there was any people inside the facility (for soccer), first time we had stands inside, first time we had 11 versus 11 on this field. I was excited for what was to come this weekend.”
Centralia, which took on Mark Morris and Black Hills on Saturday, opened Sunday with a summer Chronicle Cup matchup against W.F. West. WFW skipper Allen Anderson said the Bearcats have had a relaxed summer compared to previous years, giving the players a bit more time off on their own.
“We haven’t had a single practice with our team, and you could tell with the chemistry and whatnot,” he said. “But it was fun to see some of our newer guys for the first time, guys I had never even met yet.”
Despite any rust or lack of chemistry, W.F. West held the bulk of possession early Sunday, but Centralia broke in the waning minutes of the first half, drawing a penalty kick on a counter attack that Simba Osman calmly buried.
The Bearcats kept turning the screws in the second half, but the Tigers held firm at the back to keep the clean sheet and punch their ticket to the championship.
“I think switching the style of play that we were used to last year to something more possessive, involving our back line definitely paid off,” Vazquez said. “It really helped us against W.F. West, it really helped us against other schools.”
The defensive effort continued in the title tilt against the Jacks, and Centralia turned the offense on early. But despite multiple golden chances, the Tigers couldn’t beat the R.A. Long keeper, and after 10 minutes of heavy Centralia pressure to open the second half, RAL flipped the script and cashed in on a counter.
Five minutes later, the Jacks doubled their lead, and saw out a chippy final 10 minutes to win.
For Vazquez (the high school coach), it was a decent showing for a Tigers team that he hopes can take a step up when March rolls around.
“We were not the top dog last year in our 2A league, but hopefully we can make a little bit more noise this year,” he said.
