Suarez flawless for PHS
Strong second half propels Panthers to win
Porterville High School’s Abraham Suarez showed why he’s the Panthers’ main scorer and possibly the biggest offensive threat on a soccer field by recording a flawless hat trick in the second half of Porterville’s 5-2 win over Strathmore Wednesday evening.
Tied 2-2 after the first half, it took Suarez only 30 seconds to score the game-winning goal on a second attempt after Spartans’ goalie Damian Rodriguez blocked his first shot. Less than five minutes later, Suarez scored again on a shot 15-yards out from the right side of the field.
“He’s our main scorer,” PHS head coach Eddie Gutierrez said. “He’s been a little bit hurt, but he’s been the one finding the back of the net. We’re really riding him to get the goals.”
His final goal, which completed the flawless hat-trick, was in the 30th minute of the second half when he headed a cross from Rogelio Bedolla in on a Panthers’ (6-3-1) corner kick. A flawless hat-trick is when a player scores three straight goals in a row and all in the same half.
Bedolla had the first Panthers’ goal of the night after heading in a pass from Victor Perez in the eighth minute of the game. The goal came two minutes after Strathmore’s Ivan Cid tied the game at 1-1.
“The game went good,” Gutierrez said. “It’s not a rivalry, but a lot of these boys play together in club so we knew they were going to come out and go hard. It was a clean game, but it was tough. They made it tough for us, but I was happy with our performance.”
Strathmore (4-6-1) played well offensively in the first half with Alejandro Bermudez answering Porterville’s Diego Aviles’ goal in the 28th minute with a beautiful shot from the right side of the goal after getting the ball back on a throw-in to tie the game at 2 with three minutes left in the first half. But SHS head coach Jimmy Madrigal said the tie score may have gotten to the boys head.
“We got comfortable thinking 2-2, we took control of the game the first half and Porterville didn’t let down,” Madrigal said. “They came in hard. They wanted it more than us and they took it.”
He added, “It’s something we’ve been struggling with all season. All season our boys get too confident and they don’t keep the momentum. We’re always there with all the teams, and it’s the same mistakes we make over and over. I tell these boys teams are going to come in hard, especially when you’re playing them on their home turf and it’s a close game.”
In the second half, Porterville held Strathmore
to less than five shots on goal with good defensive work from defenders like Daniel Cervantez and Mark Inman, who could be heard continuously communicating with his teammates. Gutierrez said Inman’s defense was “solid”.
Porterville only has one day of rest before they begin tournament play in Bakersfield with a game against Wasco Friday in the Garces Memorial High School tournament. Strathmore is off until Wednesday, Jan. 10 when they travel to Granite Hills and begin East Sequoia League play.