Giants strike back

FORT DEFIANCE –  For Waynesboro, revenge was sweet.

After Fort Defiance took the Southern Valley District regular-season championship away from the Little Giants, they were looking to get revenge Thursday night on the Indians, and take the district tournament championship.

Waynesboro had to slow the high-powered Indian attack that had roughed them up during the a loss in the regular season and the one-game playoff. The Little Giants put together a stonewall that kept the Indians off the board for the entire match and a lone Kyle Wright strike gave the Little Giants the 1-0 win and the tournament championship.

Wright got the Little Giants on the board at the 20 minute mark off an assist from Hugo Fernandez. The goal would be the only one of the match that surprised Waynesboro coach Bill Meicke.

“I kept telling my coaches that one goal was not going to be enough,” Meicke said. “The guys gutted it out and really played hard.”

Wright gave all the credit to Fernandez for the goal.

“He did all the work and made it easy for my to score. He had a heck of a game,” Wright said. “I can’t say enough about [Hugo], he makes everything so easy. He brought the ball down the corner and put a great ball in their for me.”

Fort was frustrated by the way the Little Giants were keeping their goal scores from getting to the net.  One reason the Indians were so frustrated was a Giants’ defense led by Daniel Heyward.

“Daniel was the defensive MVP,” Wright said. “It is hard to keep Fort off the board. Their offense is so explosive.”

Heyward was glad the Little Giants responded after losing a couple of late season matches to the Indians.

“I thought we played with more energy tonight than we did in the last two games,” Heyward said. “Revenge was definitely on our minds. It always feels good to beat Fort.”

The Little Giants celebrated with the fans after the match as the team carried their district championship trophy around the field. Fort head coach Brent Hull said Waynesboro just out played his Indians all night.

“They kept the pressure on us all night long,” Hull said. “We had opportunities but just couldn’t get anything in. They won a lot of 50-50 balls and that was the difference.”