Eagle Valley soccer stuns Huskies in Gypsum

Pandemonium erupted Tuesday night in Gypsum as the Devils faithful counted down the final 10 seconds on the clock, and Eagle Valley beat Battle Mountain for the first time in years in a thrilling 2-1 game. 

Tied 1-1 with six minutes left, the Devils found themselves with a free kick outside of the box. The initial kick was blocked, but Yael Carillo found the rebound and got a one-touch up and into the mountain air.

“I saw the ball coming to me and all I thought about was I have to make this,” Carillo said on the field after the game.

“I saw it go right over me,” Marco Rosales said. “I just see the ball go over my head and thought, ‘Please don’t hit the crossbar.”

The moment slowed down, and the ball found the back right of the net for the decisive goal.

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“First time beating Battle Mountain feels amazing,” Carillo, a senior, said. “It hits the heart knowing we couldn’t beat them and now, my last year, we beat them at home.”

The Huskies have historically held a somewhat dominant edge over the years and battled until the end.

“We gave it all we got,” Fernando Lucero said. “We made some bad decisions toward the end, but it was a good game.”

In local rivalry tradition, many of these athletes don different uniforms for their high schools while playing with their rivals on club teams and throughout the summer.

“I thought it was a great high school sporting event,” Huskies coach David Cope said. “I was proud of our guys. I thought we battled really hard. Coming in, Eagle Valley scored 21 goals in three games, so they really have a high-powered attack.”

Edgar Castenon, Sergio Jove and Lucero helped lead the Huskies. With 15 minutes left in the first half, Lucero opened the scoring by sending a free kick off the Devils’ wall and into the open left side of the net. 

Trailing 1-0 and playing a game that could easily swing either way, the Devils responded with freshman Daniel Najera connecting on a corner.

“I just saw the goalkeeper out, so I decided to just shoot it,” Najera said. 

Fellow freshman Andrew Saguillan also served valuable minutes for the Devils, keeping the pressure on and matriculating the ball down the field.

Daniel Salazar squandered multiple attacks by the Devils as the Huskies defense held strong through a barrage of attacks throughout the game. 

“I thought we did well,” Cope said of his Huskies. “It’s really a shame to lose to them, but these things don’t last forever, and so we get them at home again in a month.”

The rematch between the Devils (4-0, 2-0 4A Western Slope) and Huskies (1-1-2, 1-1 4A Western Slope) is Oct. 5 in Edwards.

“This doesn’t happen without all the boys believing in this program,” Devils assistant coach Leo Rosales said. “We’ve been building this for three years, and we’ve been putting in the work. So it’s time for us to show what we really have and what we want to do as a team, but the boys believe and the boys are what makes this program. I’m really proud and love every single one of them.”