Mar. 31—QUINCY — The Quincy Jacks win the Battle of the Basin against the Ephrata Tigers in a hard fought 2-1 victory.
"Our key to winning was in our second half mainly," said Jacks player Jesus Carrillo. "We picked up our intensity and we connected more as a team."
The score was 0-0 going into the half, and both teams started to feel pressured as the intensity of the game progressed.
"It's a classic between Ephrata and Quincy," said Tigers head coach Ivan Garay. "This is a rivalry game and always seems to go this way. You get the best of both teams."
When the second half started, the Jacks were able to score their first goal of the night, with the Tigers quick to follow. For the Jack,s the turning point came after they scored their second goal, Quincy's Erick Zepeda said.
"That brought up our momentum and we just started playing more physical, and it looked like we wanted it more after that goal," said Zepeda. "As soon as that ball hit the net, I just felt like it was done from there."
Jacks head coach Hector Vaca said he is particularly proud of how the freshmen on the team have stepped up for the squad.
"We knew coming in that it was going to be a good class, but these guys are ready to compete and they're ready to go," said Vaca.
The Jacks' win earned them the Battle of the Basin trophy which is a tradition of the teams every year. In the past, it was decided from two games, but now the teams play just one league game to decide the winner, said Vaca.
Despite the loss, the Tigers remain proud of the efforts that they put out today and now know they have the energy and intensity to push forward, said Garay.
"Losing is not always good, but you learn from your losses, and we know we can battle and compete with everybody in this league, so we just have to keep getting better than we were yesterday," said Garay.
Looking toward the future, the Tigers are going to put some more work into their offensive front and try to work on making sure they can put up more goals in a game. The team will be preparing for their next game in another league match against Ellensburg, said Garay.
"Now we're back two in the league, so that's a game that we have to get," said Garay. "We have to go in there and put ourselves in that win column."
Vaca said the Jacks still have a lot to clean up in their gameplay, with their first focus being on the mental game.
"We just need to go into the game more concentrated and more focused on the outcome," said Vaca. The skill is there, the talent is there, the plan is there, it's just mentality wise we just need to be better."
The Jacks are also going to start putting a focus on making sure that they have more composure on the ball. The team has been trying to do too much in terms of ball movement, said Vaca.
"If we keep it simple and play our game, I think we'll be pretty good," said Vaca.
Quincy's next game will be against league opponent Grandview. Vaca said the Jacks will have their work cut out for them against a highly physical and unfamiliar team. They will also be down a couple players with Brayan Nunez, Daniel Mendoza and Joel Flores being out as they have been given the opportunity to play in Spain, said Vaca.
"They're going to be gone, but it's okay because it's next man up mentality here," said Vaca.
The Jacks will play in Grandview on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and the Tigers will play in Ellensburg on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
