Isidro Prado-Huerta has played in plenty of top-level soccer matches and scored plenty of goals.
But the Thomas Jefferson senior, who has been a mainstay inside the Sounders FC Academy program for the last few seasons, tallied one of the more dramatic goals of his career Wednesday night.
Prado-Huerta netted the goal that won the Raiders the South Puget Sound League championship at Federal Way Memorial Stadium over district rival Federal Way in the final minute of the 80-minute contest. The goal gave TJ a 4-3 victory.
The heart-standing win gives the Raiders, the champs of the SPSL North, the top seed to Saturday’s 4A West Central District tournament. Jefferson (13-0-4) will play the third seeded team from the Greater St. Helen’s League at 4 p.m. at Art Crate Stadium in Graham in a loser-out, winner-to-state contest.
Federal Way will take on Gig Harbor at 2 p.m. at Art Crate Stadium. Gig Harbor is the fourth seed from the Narrows League.
Wednesday in the SPSL title game, the Eagles (15-2-0) got on the scoreboard first in the 29th minute. That’s when forward Odasson Pelogi, also a Sounders FC Academy veteran, cruised through the TJ defense to give Federal Way a 1-0 lead, which is how it stayed until halftime.
Jefferson’s first goal came in the 50th minute after Prado-Huerta was fouled inside the Federal Way penalty box. Brandon Madsen stepped up and converted the penalty kick to tie the score at 1-1. It was Madsen’s 15th goal on the season.
But the tie didn’t last too long. The Eagles took the lead back nine minutes later when Edwin Ortiz took a pass from Alex Lewis and scored. It was Ortiz’s 17th goal of the season to lead the Eagles.
Prado-Huerta knotted the game back up at 2-2 in the 70th minute and hit a shot from just outside the penalty area.
And just five minutes later, the Raiders took their first lead of the game when senior Luis Alvaro Osornio banged in a shot from way outside the goal in the 75th minute. But the Eagles struck right back when Ortiz found the net to tie the game up at 3-3 with just two minutes remaining in the SPSL Championship game.
Ortiz’s goal set the stage for Prado-Huerta’s late heroics, scoring the game-winner with just one minute left on the Federal Way Memorial Stadium scoreboard clock.
Tahoma 2, Beamer 1
The Bears ended the Titans’ season Wednesday night at the SPSL Tournament. The two teams were battling for the league’s final spot into the district tournament. Tahoma and Beamer finished fifth in their respective SPSL divisions.
Kennedy 4, Decatur 0
The Gators lost a loser-out, winner-to-district game Wednesday night at Franklin Pierce High School to the Lancers. Kennedy got a hat trick from Colin Giles.
