Madera dominates in home win against Tigers

The Madera High boys soccer team briefly lost the momentum in its matchup against Edison, but still dominated most of the game and pulled out a 10-3 win in Memorial Stadium.

Elias Zuniga led Madera with a hat trick (3 goals) Tuesday. The rest of the Coyotes scorers were Elmer Garcia, Isaac Pinedo, Jonah Hill, Alex Segovia, Imanol Coria, Imanol Rodriguez and William Bispham.

Madera started the attack early, getting a goal from Garcia in the first five minutes. Edison appeared to settle down after giving up the first goal, tightening the defense and limiting Madera’s opportunities.

But the Coyotes cracked the defense in the 15th minute with a goal from Pinedo. Zuniga made it 3-0 when he scored on a free kick in the 21st minute. Pinedo nearly added another in the 31st minute, but his shot in front of goal was blocked by the keeper.

Madera, however, earned a corner after the block. Zuniga capitalized on the corner, scoring with a header to make it 4-0.

Edison finally found something to celebrate in the 36th minute when David Mendoza received a pass from the left wing and tucked the ball inside the right post for the Tigers’ first goal.

In the first minute of the second half, the Coyotes found their fifth goal, courtesy of Hill. Blasting a free kick into the back of the net in the 53rd minute, Alex Segovia scored the Coyotes’ sixth goal. After Mendoza scored his second goal four minutes later, Manuel Gonzalez gave the Tigers their third goal in the 61st minute.

“We made a few subs in the second half to get some guys some minutes and I feel like the tempo went down when we made those changes,” Madera head coach Nic Landeros said. “I was pretty frustrated with those two goals in the second half that we conceded.”

Landeros regrouped his players while the game was paused for a minute due to the scorching temperature.

“We were able to get the water break and I was able to let the boys know how I felt,” Landeros said.

Madera regained the momentum in the 70th minute with another goal by Zuniga. A minute later, Coria made it 8-3. Rodriguez joined the party with a score of his own in the final two minutes. For good measure, the Coyotes tallied their 10th goal in the final seconds, with a strike from Bispham .

“I was happy with the scoreline,” Landeros said. “We needed a game like this with the hard work we’ve been putting in.”

Although the Tigers had been struggling going into the match against Madera, the Coyotes didn’t take their opponent lightly.

“These types of matches are the ones that are tricky because a team like Edison has nothing to lose,” Landeros said. “The message was, ‘Get on them early, don’t put your foot off the gas, keep going at them.’”