Comets knock off three top-ranked teams in state
By Jennifer Cesarz
Correspondent
The top three teams in the state, according to the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association rankings are Grafton, Catholic Memorial and St. Anthony.
The No. 4-ranked Delavan-Darien High School Comets spent the past week knocking those three teams out of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association road to state, earning themselves a trip – their first since 2005.
D-DHS head coach Mike Marse said the rankings are done out of Milwaukee and Madison, which affected the Comets No. 4 spot.
“We are not a Milwaukee-, Waukesha-, Madison-based school so we do get overlooked a little bit,” he said. “But I don’t mind not being ranked.”
After beating St. Anthony for the regional championship Oct. 16, the Comets hosted Catholic Memorial on Thursday and won 4-3 in their arguably toughest post-season game.
After the win, the Comets headed to East Troy, the neutral site for the match-up against the top-seeded team from Grafton and won easily, 6-1, winning the sectional champion title.
“After the Elkhorn loss, we learned we can’t take teams for granted,” Marse said, referring to the 1-0 Elkhorn win over the Comets in the Southern Lakes Conference tournament championship.
Marse said last year the team also experienced a loss to Elkhorn and didn’t respond as well as the team did this year.
Hosting Catholic Memorial on Thursday, the Comets scored first at the four-minute mark when Tigrio Huerta got the ball to the state’s leading scorer, Chuy Rocha, putting the Comets up 1-0.
Catholic Memorial answered back quickly, scoring just three minutes later, and the score stayed at 1-1 heading into the second half.
Rocha scored his second goal of the game early in the second half, this time with Jaime Rodriguez getting the assist to give the Comets the 2-1 advantage.
Huerta scored next for the Comets, seven minutes later at 59 minutes, with the assist by Saul Rivera, but Catholic Memorial wouldn’t give up just yet, making it 3-2 after a goal at the 62-minute mark.
Huerta made it 4-2 on his second goal of the game, and the defensive battle was on for the Comets.
Catholic Memorial put one more goal on the board with only a minute left in the game, but the Comets went on for the 4-3 victory.
Saturday the Comets beat the No. 1 team 6-2.
The Comets built a 2-0 halftime advantage off goals by Rocha. Huerta and Rodrigo Aranda had the assists.
Starting the second half, Rocha picked up his third goal of the game, with Huerta again getting the assist.
Grafton made a fast comeback late in the second half, scoring two goals within minutes of each other, making it a 3-2 game at the 71-minute mark.
The Comets soon put an end to that when Grafton was called for a handball, and Saul Rivera scored on the penalty kick, making it 4-2 in favor of the Comets.
Huerta then took over for the Comets, scoring two more goals in the last minutes of the game, helping to lift the Comets to the 6-2 victory. Marse explained why he feels his team earned this trip to state – its first in nine years.
“They play loose and don’t take anyone or anything too serious,” Marse said. “They call themselves brothers. That’s just how they feel.”
