The Burley Bobcats, led by gruff, emotional longtime coach Wes Nyblade and a strong senior class, are trying to regain their Great Basin Conference crown and return to the State 4A soccer tournament after a two-year drought.
Meanwhile, the Wood River High boys' soccer team is trying to regain its scoring touch and momentum entering the six-team GBC playoffs starting Oct. 7. And right now, the Hailey boys are on a collision course with resurgent Burley.
Burley and Wood River will meet for the second time this season Thursday, Sept. 23 at 4:30 p.m. at South Valley Sports Complex in Hailey. It should be a close-to-the-vest game with tournament seeding on the line—and plenty of history.
The 33-game Burley-Wood River rivalry dates back to 1994 when Nyblade started the program. It's as close as it can be—Burley leading 15-14-4. There was a 1-1 tie at Burley Sept. 7. Last year the two teams were 1-1-1 before the state-qualifying game won by Wood River 6-5 in penalty kicks after two OTs.
In the six years of the 4A Great Basin Conference, Burley has won three tournament titles (2004-06) and Jerome has won three (2007-09). The Bobcats and Tigers battled in the championship game each year from 2006-08 until Wood River barged into the picture last fall.
Burley, Jerome and Wood River are the prominent teams in the six-team Great Basin once again. Based on its rock-solid defense (allowing 11 goals in 11 games), Burley could be the early tournament favorite. The Bobcats have outscored their last five opponents 21-7.
Monday, Burley and Jerome battled to their second tie of the season, this one 2-2 at Burley. Both teams left the field unbeaten in their last eight games—Jerome since its 4-1 loss to Wood River Aug. 31, and Burley starting with its 0-0 tie at Jerome back on Sept. 2.
Depending on the result of Monday's Burley-Jerome game, Wood River coach Luis Monjaras viewed his team's upcoming game with Burley as a "must win" if the Wolverines want to finish the regular season as the #1 or #2 seed in the league, thus gaining a first-round GBC tournament bye.
With a couple of games in hand, Jerome (7-1-3, 4-1-2 for 14 points) was the league leader but Wood River (4-4-1, 3-1-1 for 10 points) could keep pace with a successful week. Burley (6-1-4, 2-0-4 for 10 points) needed a little help and could help itself with a victory at Wood River.
Wood River has stumbled in its last two games, losing 2-1 at Jerome Thursday and 2-1 on Homecoming Saturday to Century. The Wolverines had won only one of their last four games prior to Tuesday's home date with Canyon Ridge of Twin Falls (1-9-0, 0-5-0). Wood River beat Canyon Ridge in the first meeting 5-3 on Sept. 2.
At Jerome, foul calls and cards (6 yellows, 1 soft red, 1 hard red) went against Wood River most of the game, to the point "where it affected our playing style," Monjaras said.
"We like to play tough and mark one-and-one with their main guy," he said. "Unfortunately Jerome didn't get as many cards as we did. It was an interesting game."
Jerome scored first with an own goal—Eduardo Ruiz's shot deflecting off of defender Harlan Collins at 26 minutes. The second Tiger goal before half was a Ruiz rocket shot from 18 yards. Alejandro Garcia made it 2-1 at 75 minutes.
Saturday, all the scoring came in the first 20 minutes of Century's 2-1 non-conference victory. Bryan Donoso put Wood River ahead 1-0 at 11:37, from Alex Lopez, then senior Zach Cutters took a Kyle Kener pass for the equalizer in the 16th minute.
Kener's penalty kick at 18 minutes ended the scoring, although Wood River had plenty of opportunities with a 7-4 shooting edge after the half. Monjaras said, "Century was solid playing the ball on the ground, much like we do. They outplayed us in the first half."
Both of the keepers, Wood River's Dylan Carey and freshman Levi Gribas of Century (3-4-2) had solid efforts. The Wolverine defense had a few worrisome moments when senior Collins went off with an ankle injury at 51 minutes and senior Spyder Turco played through shoulder pain.
After Thursday's game against Burley, Wood River visits Twin Falls (4-3-3, 2-2-1) Tuesday, Sept. 28 and entertains Minico (6-4-0, 2-3-0) for "Senior Night" on Wednesday, Sept. 29 in Hailey. Jerome hosts Twin Falls this Thursday.
