It took until legitimately the final shot of the match and in the blink of an eye, the 15th-seeded Bearcats went from forcing overtime to losing a 2-1 decision to second-seeded Sehome in a Wednesday night Class 2A Round of 16 state match at Civic Stadium in Bellingham.
Against one of the premier programs in the classification, W.F. West (10-10) gave Sehome all it could handle for 80-plus minutes.
“I’m really proud of the effort our boys put out against one of the best teams in the state,” Bearcats head coach Allen Anderson said. “We had a great gameplan, prepped for it. They came to play and proved they can compete with the best teams.”
Knotted up at one goal apiece after 80 minutes, four minutes of stoppage time was given by the central referee. The time spilled into five minutes and the Mariners found the back of the net to send them into euphoria and a trip to the quarterfinals.
“It is what it is,” Anderson stated. “It is a rough way to end it.”
Sehome struck in the 24th minute for a 1-0 advantage only for Uzi Lopez Cruz to deliver a pass to the feet of Adrian Jaimes, who got behind a defender on the free kick, and powered the ball for the equalizer.
Those two capped their prep careers with a third state tournament appearance in their four years. W.F. West has a total of eight seniors that Anderson said will be missed mainly for the foundation they laid.
Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Noel Montenegro, Colin Bradley, Devin Canfield, Moises Sanchez-Hernandez and Braden Newman also make up the senior class.
“It almost feels like the end of an era,” Anderson said. “I’m going to miss this group a lot. They’re a big reason why our offseason program is built up to what it is now. I'm really proud of that group of seniors because they’ve accomplished a lot.”
