Community School senior co-captain Tanner Flanigan wound up a fine four-year Cutthroat career with two late goals in Wednesday's High Desert Soccer Conference tournament loser-out game on the field of the Wendell Trojans.
But Flanigan's scoring heroics weren't enough for coach Richard Whitelaw's Cutthroats to overcome Wendell's 3-0 lead, and the #3-seeded defending champ Trojans (10-5-3) ousted the #4-seeded Community School (5-9-4) by a score of 3-2.
Flanigan (13-24-11-10 by season) ended up with 58 career goals, placing him fifth on the all-time career Cutthroat scoring list behind Josh Stanek (94), Travis Stone (93), Sean Higgins (76) and Benji Hill (75).
The trusty Cutthroat midfielder finished ahead of Josh Sonneland (51), John Hayes (41) and Bobby Flanigan (39).
"Man of the Match" in Wednesday's boys' soccer contest was senior Wyatt Bunce.
Wednesday's game ended the Cutthroat season while Wendell advanced to today's HDSC runner-up clash against #2 Gooding on the Gooding field. The top-seeded Bliss Bears (14-1-0) defeated Gooding 5-1 Wednesday for their first conference title since 2006.
The Cutthroats will be staying home from the State 3A tournament for the second straight year after qualifying for the big meet eight times in nine years from 1998-2007.
Final team statistics: Community School 5-9-4 (4-4-1 home, 1-5-3 away, 3-5-4 league, #4 seed). Goals scored: 32 (1.8). Goals against: 45 (2.5). Individual scoring: Tanner Flanigan 10 goals (58 career), Wyatt Bunce 6, Will Brokaw 4, Tony Martin 3, Cassidy Carson 3, Tyler Davis 2, Ben Kanellitsas 2, Zach Lindahl 1 and Tim Kanellitsas 1.
