It was the final home game of the regular season for the Great Bend High School boys’ soccer team on Tuesday evening.
The Panthers made the most of it, scoring 10 unanswered goals against Thomas More Prep Marian of Hays, and ending the game 13 minutes early by enacting the 10-goal rule at Cavanaugh Field.
“I’ve never seen them play, and I know they’ve got a couple of good players,” GBHS head coach Gus Prieto said. “We were ready for them. It was ball position.
“Control the ball, keep the ball and make good passes. Try to play one-touch passes.”
Great Bend got started early, jumping on the Monarchs in the opening minutes of the game.
“It was important to me to score goals,” Gus Prieto said. “We practiced a lot with the midfielders to make plays to score.
“We scored pretty quick, I think in the first or second minute. Javier Guerra scored the first goal. It was a good connection between him and Jose Mijares.”
The Panthers finished with eight different players scoring in the rout, which saw Great Bend outshoot TMP 31-6.
Seniors Alex Urias and Enrique Guyton each scored two goals.
“They are seniors,” Gus Prieto said of Urias and Guyton. “They started the game. They’re playing real good together. They had several chances to score, and they made goals. They work.”
The GBHS seniors were recognized between the junior varsity and varsity games. The varsity squad has 11 seniors, all of whom started on Tuesday.
“It is the last home game before divisionals,” Gus Prieto said. “I hope we can play for the first game here. I put all the seniors in to start. It was a gift for them. They’ve played hard all season.
“Some of them didn’t play that much, so that’s why. I wanted to give them a chance to start. They did well.”
Senior midfielder Mijares scored one goal and recorded two assists.
The Panthers got one goal each from Michael Prieto, Emmanuel Poblano, Joaquin Garcia and Alex Anquiano.
Great Bend starts a series of five games on the road on Thursday at Garden City, starting at 4 p.m.