Playoff picture: Miyamura boys one win away of earning automatic bid

WINDOW ROCK

The Miyamura boys soccer team increased its chances of earning the district’s automatic bid to the 4A state playoffs.

The Patriots avenged two earlier losses to Kirtland Central on Thursday with a 2-0 shutout win.

“This is a big deal for our kids,” second-year Miyamura coach Ralph Castaneda said. “I mean, the boys have been working really hard, and I’m very proud of what they’ve done as a coach.

“I don’t win games as the coach; it’s the players who win the games,” he said. “That’s my philosophy, and all I do is give them the tools.”

The two frontrunners in District 1-4A have one loss each, with Miyamura owning a 6-1 record while the Broncos come in at 5-1.

The Patriots will host Bloomfield on Tuesday for its regular-season finale, while KC will play at Aztec on Tuesday and then at Bloomfield on Thursday.

Suppose both teams close out the regular season undefeated. In that case, Miyamura will own the tiebreaker based on head-to-head competition in district play as KC defeated the Patriots 2-1 in double overtime on Sept. 27.

“That’s my understanding,” Castaneda said. “We’ve got them by a goal at the current time.”

After that noteworthy district win, the Miyamura coach was going to give his players a day off last Friday, but the players insisted that they practice.

“I wanted them to rest and relax and enjoy the win,” he said. “My words kind of fell on deaf ears and wanted to work on a few things and get ready for the next game.”

According to Maxpreps.com, a website dedicated to high school sports action, Miyamura got its first score from senior midfielder William Mortensen in the first half. The Patriots added an insurance run in the second half, with sophomore Osvaldo Gardea scoring with junior Mateo Juarez assisting on that goal.

“It was a defensive battle,” Castaneda said.

Earlier this season, the Patriots came up short to KC at the Aztec tournament as the two teams battled to a 2-2 draw, with the Broncos winning in PKs.

“We didn’t have an overtime period when we played them at the Aztec tournament,” the Miyamura coach said. “When the game ended, we went straight to PKs, and it was disheartening to lose like that, but it was early in the season.”

Nonetheless, Castaneda said the team went into that tournament to learn a few things about themselves.

“We wanted to get an idea of what weaknesses were and what we needed to work on,” he said.

In the second meeting late last month, the Broncos came away with a 2-1 win that went into double OT.

“We got beat, but it was one of those things to where we weren’t out of it,” he said. “We knew that we were going to see them one more time, and we just put some things together.”

As for Tuesday’s matchup with Bloomfield, Castaneda expects a tough outing against the Bobcats, as Miyamura won the first meeting by a 3-1 count.

Bloomfield is a very good team,” Castaneda said. “In our first game, they gave us quite a challenging first half. We kind of it opened it up, and we took advantage of some of the mistakes they made.”

Castaneda said his team is looking forward to Tuesday’s game, and if they can win, they will win the district title.

“The boys are really pumped about it,” he said. “It’s going to be a very big game for us. We want to put a stamp on it and be the district champs.”

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