The Great Bend High School boys’ soccer team bounced back from its second loss of the season earlier this week by beating Wichita Heights on Thursday night at Cavanaugh Field.
The Panthers defended a two-goal, first-half lead and finished ahead 4-2.
GBHS is 12-2 overall, 5-2 Western Athletic Conference.
“After the game against Dodge, I was a little worried about defense and controlling the ball,” Great Bend head coach Gus Prieto said. “(This win) is big because after that game against Dodge, some of my players were disappointed.
“After winning 11 games in a row, they were really happy for that. Then we had a really bad game.”
Alexander Urias scored a pair of goals in the game, the first coming with 13 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the first half.
Noel Rodriguez sent a cross pass in front of the goal, and Urias was able to get a one-touch shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Enrique Guyton gave the Panthers a 2-0 halftime lead on an assist from Luis Espino.
The Falcons closed the gap on a cross pass from Malik Kabbani to Bryant West, who headed the ball into the goal.
Urias responded with his second goal on a free kick awarded after a Heights hand ball. He took the shot from well outside the penalty box and buried it into the back of the net.
Rodriguez scored a goal of his own to make it 4-1 with 12:35 remaining. Rafael Arias got the assist.
West scored once more for Heights with 11:16 remaining, receiving a corner kick that he headed past Panthers goalkeeper Ramon Garcia.
GBHS faces its final WAC game against Liberal on Monday. With a win, the Panthers can claim a conference title.
If the Panthers lose on Monday, the WAC champion will be decided by the result of the Dodge City-Liberal game.
“They played a lot better (than they did in Dodge City),” Prieto said. “You could see in the first two goals, there were really good passes. I think they are ready. I talked to them. They understand that we just need to forget the game versus Dodge. Right now, it depends on us. We’re going to play against Liberal on Monday, and if we win, we’ve got the WAC. So it depends on us.”