Soccer:

 

The Mt. Whitney Boys Soccer Team had one of their best games yet on Monday night. The boys (and I) travelled thirty minutes to Hanford West’s freezing field on January 22nd, where each team battled almost the entire first half for the first point of the game. The battle finally ended when the Pioneers (Josue Deniz) gained the first point. As Whitney worked the ball down the field and toward the goal, it ended up between Deniz’s feet. When he shot, he had turned his back to the goal because he knew his kick was off and was disappointed. In reality, the ball curved into the upper left corner of the cage and the fans, as well as the team, started screaming and cheering in joy.

Deniz ended up scoring another point, in the second half, along with Cesar Lopez, who had two points himself, Zerafin Duarte, Adrian Roa, and Victor Del Rio, all of whom had one point each.

 

Once the Pioneers scored the first goal, it was a wrap. Although the Huskies managed to slip the ball past our goalie twice, Mt. Whitney seemed unfazed by it. They felt absolutely no pressure before the game and were excited , because they felt in their hearts they’d win this game. Despite a challenging and tough season so far, the Mt. Whitney Pioneers pulled through with a 7-2 win against the Hanford West Huskies.  The boys came out strong, were in control of the game, and were happy with the results.

 

On February the 2nd, the Huskies came over to our turf, where they again lost to the Whitney Soccer Team. The final score ended up being 9-0, a complete shutout and amazing victory for the Pioneers. Tuesday night the boys beat Hanford High on their way to the Central Section Playoffs, and are hoping to defeat our famous rival, the Rangers, in order to make it to said playoffs.

 

Basketball:

 

The losing streak continued as the Pioneers were defeated by the Trailblazers and the Miners in the same week. It seems that the boys have lost confidence after their upsetting loss to Redwood.

 

The boys had a game against Golden West at home followed by a game at El Diamante. Whitney lost 66-56 on Jan. 23rd in a battle with the visiting Trailblazers. As was with the game versus Redwood, the score was constantly close. The Pioneers just couldn’t keep their momentum steady enough to win the game. Senior Tucker Stainbrook, number 2 on Golden West, was the star of the game and was highlighted by Visalia Times-Delta.

 

Two days after their distressing loss to the Trailblazers, the Pioneers headed to Miner territory to break some green picks. In the first half it seemed the boys were back in their element. They almost constantly had the upper hand. But something changed in the third quarter. The Miners started fighting back. Slowly El Diamante chipped at the score until the final buzzer sounded, ending the game in a painful nine point loss.

 

Although the boys had three back-to-back losses, they picked up their momentum on Feb. 2nd against the Lemoore Tigers. Our boys in maroon scored an uplifting 76-62 triumph over the Tigers. Whitney appeared in control, clear-headed, and composed throughout the entire game. The win has given hope to the rest of the 2017-18 basketball season, and has left the team with a 16-9 record.

Twitter: @halastephanie | Read all of her articles HERE.