Great Bend gets back at Hays with 3-0 win

Call it the tale of two games. Eight days ago, Great Bend suffered its first true loss of the season at Hays, 3-1. Tuesday, the Panthers turned in a dominant performance, out-shooting the rival Indians 29-9 in a 3-0 win.

“The weekend before (the last meeting), we played Northwest, one of the best teams in the state,” said Great Bend Coach Gus Prieto. “We went to double overtime and lost on penalty kicks. My guys gave 100 percent. After that, we rested on Sunday and played Monday. We were kind of tired, but I think the main problem is we were so confident.”

Great Bend (5-1-1 overall, 2-1 Western Athletic Conference) put the pressure on early with eight shots in the first 20 minutes of play. Just over five minutes into the game, Panther senior Alex Urias found senior Enrique Guyton on the left side, 18 yards from goal. Guyton buried his shot for a 1-0 lead.

Later in the half, Michael Prieto crossed to Urias in the box, but Urias’ header went over the crossbar. That was followed by an Ivan Galindo shot just wide of goal.

Hays (3-4-1, 1-2-1) did not get its first shot on goal until 14:45 remained in the half. Indian senior Josue Lopez put a header towards goal, forcing Claudio Sanchez to make a diving save. On the subsequent corner kick, Hays junior Lane Clark sent a header well wide of goal.

The Indians made a push in the second half. Just three minutes in, Clark found himself in prime position, but his difficult volley went wide. Great Bend countered just 30 seconds later when Urias went one-on-one with Indian keeper Joshua Johnson. Urias shot early and high over the crossbar. Hays had the next two chances with two crosses through the box but with no one on the other end.

“We’ve got to have players who are willing to step up and run to the ball,” Hays Coach Chris Michaelis said. “Instead of waiting to make things happen, they have to create things.”

The Panthers began another offense with 26:31 to play. Senior Jose Mijares would get four looks at goal over the next two minutes but could not sneak one past Johnson. Hays would get a chance six minutes later when sophomore Kyler Leiker sent a nice ball in the box. Sanchez was beat off his line, but senior defender Luis Fernando Espino kept out Shawn Herrman’s attempt.

“The first half, we dominated,” said Prieto.” The second half, we came out kind of slow and they pushed a little more, but we controlled the game. We have really good defense and have not received a goal yet (at home).”

With the Hays players tiring, the final 15 minutes went to Great Bend. Urias sent a cross into the box. The pass was just deflected by a Hays defender to the foot of Guyton, who scored his second goal of the game with 14:30 remaining. In a 71 second period around the five-minute mark, the Panthers put three solid shots on goal, but Johnson was there to keep each out. Finally, with 4:02 to play, Jose Espino sent a long ball into the box. Urias, at the top of the box, headed it back down to junior Joaquin Garcia who gave Great Bend its final 3-0 lead.

“You’ve got to give Great Bend credit,” Michaelis said. “They played much better today. They played better together as a unit than the did on Monday, and I knew they would. We just did not come out with intensity, and late in the game, we gave up two goals. We were exhausted but we had to press forward and try to get that equalizing goal.”

Hays had its best chance of the game in the final three minutes when senior Kellen Griffin went one-on-one with Sanchez, but his shot went right to the Panther keeper.

Great Bend looks to carry the momentum into games against Dodge City on Thursday, and against Manhattan on Saturday. The Panthers have already beat WAC-foe Dodge City 1-0 in tournament play this year.

“Every game is different,” Prieto said. “I know they have good players. We need to be careful with them.”