Though the score might not indicate it, Emporia High went into Tuesday night’s game against Wichita Heights planning to sit back on defense and let the Falcons make the first mistake.
But not long into the game, the Spartans scrapped that plan and simply decided to be the aggressors. It worked, as EHS defeated Wichita Heights, 3-0.
“The plan was to play conservative and see what they had,” EHS coach Steve Pearson said. “They didn’t have anything, so we just went to the offense. There weren’t any big worries.”
After about 15 minutes of defensive play, the Spartans went to work offensively, and they immediately found positive results.
Emporia (11-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead 19 minutes into the game when forward Adrian Trujillo sent a pass ahead that sliced right through the Heights defense to a waiting Carlos Antonio, who found himself all alone after the receiving the ball.
Antonio was so ahead of the defense by that point that he had time to dribble toward the goal slowly, hesitate, then send a blast into the left corner of the net for the easy goal and the 1-0 lead.
“That was a perfect pass from Adrian,” Antonio said. “The field was kind of bad, so I was waiting for the right bounce, but the ball was bouncing bad. When I finally saw a defender coming from behind me, I just hurried and took the shot.”
Eleven minutes later, Antonio again was in on a big play for Emporia that led to another Spartans score, but he probably wished he wouldn’t have been.
Antonio and Heights’ Kyle Smith each were scrambling for a loose ball in front of the Heights net when Smith’s elbow struck Antonio in the side of the head, sending Antonio to the ground in pain.
“I was going for the ball, and I thought he (Smith) was going to body me,” Antonio said. “He didn’t, and then he brought his elbow up and I got hit in the side of the head.”
Antonio had to be helped from the field after he became dizzy trying to stand and had to leave the game for nearly 30 minutes, while the foul in front of the net gave Emporia a penalty kick. Juan Rangel knocked home the kick into the left corner of the net to put the Spartans ahead, 2-0.
That score remained until halftime, and after the break, the Spartans were anything but content to sit on their lead.
Emporia continued to press the issue offensively while turning back every possible Heights attack. Emporia took three more shots on goal in the second half after taking four in the first half.
“(Goalkeeper) Spencer (Anderson) was doing fine back there, and the defense was fine,” Pearson said, “so we just went ahead and went forward.”
The Spartans made good on one more chance at the goal thanks to more nifty passing. Midway through the second half, Sergio Segura found Brian Tabares with a through ball past the defense in front of the goal. Tabares received the pass, turned and fired a shot into the right corner of the net to record his first goal of the season.
“I had gotten two in but one was called offsides and the other a foul,” Tabares said. “I couldn’t believe it when it went in. That felt awesome.”
Emporia will play its regular-season finale at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at home against Blue Valley. The Spartans then will enter Sub- State play, where they are nearly guaranteed a first-round home game next Tuesday against an opponent to be determined Saturday morning.
Emporia 3, Wichita Heights 0
Tuesday at TRYSA
Wichita Heights 0 0 — 0
Emporia 2 1 — 3
First Half
Emp — Carlos Antonio (from Adrian Trujillo)
Emp — Juan Rangel (penalty kick)
Second Half
Emp — Brian Tabares (from Sergio Segura)
Shots on goal — WH 9, Emporia 7. Saves — WH: Grant Polley 6, Emporia: Spencer Anderson 7. Corner kicks — WH 3, Emporia 1. Fouls — WH 14, Emporia 11. Yellow cards — WH: Lucas Janaudis.