Needing to beat Round Valley on Saturday to gain important power points, the Holbrook Roadrunner soccer squad overcame two missing starters and a key injury to another player to defeat the Elks in the dome by a final of 4-2.
With Nate Turley and Shawn Gillespie sitting this game out, and Gabe Andis out with an injury following a header, Coach Dave Wright’s team still prevailed. Holbrook reserves Random Skevington, Jake Lamb, Ronald Justman, Carlos Quintana, Kelsey Foster and Miguel Martinez all played key roles. “Random played his best game of the season for us,” said Coach Wright.
Giuseppe Tambe opened the scoring for Holbrook in the 13th minute. Seven minutes later Round Valley knotted the game, taking advantage of a miscue between Holbrook’s keeper and defenders. The Roadrunners scored twice in the final five minutes of the half to take a 3-1 lead to the break. Tambe scored his second goal, then RJ Alvarado put the third goal of the half into the Round Valley net.
In the second half both teams scored once.
“Levi Reyes was strong for us at defender and Robert Jaquez, although he didn’t find the net, played an excellent match. I was very proud of the effort by the whole team. Javier Quintana had 13 saves in goal and played very well for us. The team is making its run to qualify for state and has now won four matches in a row,” concluded the coach.
With the win the Roadrunners improve to 4-4 on the season in non-tournament matches. After hosting Snowflake on Tuesday, they will play at St. Johns on Thursday, Oct. 6, then return the favor as they host the Redskins on Saturday, Oct. 8. Holbrook will wrap up the regular season after fall break with road matches at St. Michael and Show Low.
