TUNINOS SQUEAK BY EAGLES TO MOVE ON

By Patrick Lujan

In the most intriguing matchup of the 2024 Interscholastic Boys High School Football League quarterfinals, the 5th-ranked Southern Tuninos slipped past #4 Harvest Eagles 1-0 Friday night to advance to the semifinals on Monday.

It was a hard-fought game as the two squads were evenly matched with one big missing piece – Harvest didn’t have league MVP Josiah Jones guarding its goal. Jones is currently with the Matao, the men’s national team representing Guam in international play.

In the lone goal of the match, Southern’s Cody Pangelinan punched in a ricochet off Harvest backup goalie Micah Tavares at the Eagles doorstep in the 55th minute.

That would be the only score as the Dolphins celebrated at the final whistle while a handful of Eagles players fell to the ground in disappointment.

“Today’s game was for our seniors,” Southern head coach Stephen Meno said. “The boys didn’t want them to go home and end their last season early. They all knew this game wasn’t going to be easy, they had to want it and fight for it…they needed to show up and they did exactly that.”

Harvest actually controlled the momentum the majority of the second half, outshooting Southern 10-3, but all it takes is one shot to find the net in a close contest like this.

Tuninos goalie Sinahi San Nicolas came up with some crucial saves to keep the Eagles off the board.

“Most definitely, Sinahi came to play…making brilliant saves when our team most needed it,” Coach Meno said. “Big shoutout to him and our defensive line!”

In the scoreless first half, it was the Tuninos with a slight edge in shots on goals over the Eagles 7-5.

SEMIFINALS ALL SET

Southern moves on to take on the top-ranked JFK Islanders in one of Monday’s semifinals. JFK shut out the GW Geckos 3-0 behind goals from Cole Sablan, CJ Sablan and Haruki Okamoto.

The other semifinal match will pit #2 FD Friars vs. #3 St. John’s Knights. Beau Perez and David Del Carmen scored in the Friars 2-0 win over the 7th-ranked Notre Dame Royals.

The 3rd-ranked Knights took care of the Okkodo Bulldogs 6-2. Justin Li came up huge with four goals for St. John’s.

Both semifinals will be played simultaneously Monday at 4 pm at the GFA Fields in Harmon.

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