Dodge City secures WAC title with 10-0 win
By: John Zetmeir
Dodge City High School boys head soccer coach Saul Hernandez wanted his team to start fast and control the first 10 minutes of the game against Great Bend on Tuesday night.
Not only did his team control the first 10 minutes, they completely overmatched the Panthers for the duration of the game. The Red Demons beat Great Bend 10-0 to move to 14-0 and claim their second consecutive Western Athletic Conference championship.
“Coach (Hernandez) told us to come out with a lot of pressure and he told us to come out like we will in the playoffs and that’s what we did,” junior Joshua DonJuan said.
DonJuan scored just 39 seconds into the game. He followed with a second goal less than six minutes later. The junior forward scored four goals on the day.
Dodge City tallied six goals in the first half which included five in the first 20 minutes. Junior Eddie Del Toro put the Red Demons up 6-0 with 7.3 seconds remaining on the game clock in the first half.
Hernandez called it his team’s best
performance of the season.
“I haven’t seen them come out with that intensity from the first minute and I really emphasized that,” Hernandez said. “It’s great for the team that we are starting to figure out what we need to do from the beginning to open teams up.”
After a goal from junior Cesar Alvarez gave the Red Demons an 8-0 lead in the 47th minute, fellow junior Mario Martinez added his second goal of the day three minutes later. Junior Steven Chavez ended the game when his shot from outside of the penalty box beat Great Bend’s goalkeeper with 11:12 left in the game.
Six Red Demons ended up on the scoresheet on Tuesday night.
“I think all of our players are
hitting their stride right now,” Hernandez said. “I don’t think that there is just one player that (opponents) can man mark.”
While Tuesday’s win gave the Red Demons (14-0, 7-0) their second consecutive WAC championship, Dodge City held off on celebrating too much after the win.
If Liberal beats Great Bend on Monday and the Red Demons were to lose to the Redskins next Thursday, the two teams would share the conference title.
“We want to win it outright,” Hernandez said. “That will be the celebration if it happens.”
Dodge City will host Kapaun Mt. Carmel on Monday in a rematch from earlier this season. The Red Demons defeated the Crusaders 2-1 at the Titan Classic back in September. The two teams have met three times in the last two seasons with Dodge City winning all three meetings by one goal.
