Early PK enough for Huss in 1-0 victory over Gaston Day
By Jack Flagler jflagler@gastongazette.com
GASTONIA — Huss coach Michael Pond calls senior Junior Tellez a “wherever-I-need-him type guy.”
The versatile and creative Huskies senior can play forward or in the midfield for Huss depending on how the team wants to play. He can be wherever his coach wants him to be, and Monday night he was a difference-maker in the first round of the Gazette Cup against Gaston Day.
Tellez scored on a precisely-placed penalty kick in the 14th minute of play for the lone goal in his team’s 1-0 win over the Spartans in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Gaston Christian School to kick off the Cup.
Huss will move on to face Gaston Christian on Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the semifinal match, while Gaston Day will take on North Gaston at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the consolation round.
“He’s a talented player wherever he’s at. He can play the center of the field, forward if I can get my forwards together, he controls the field and sees things very well,” Pond said of Tellez. The Huss coach then smiled and added, “He’s not even that bad a goalie.”
After the initial scoring breakthrough, chances were few and far between for both teams in a choppy game played mostly in the midfield.
Huss lost most of its offensive output from last year in forwards Jorge Espinoza, Isaiah Villanueva and Zack Antrum. Those three were each All-Conference players and combined for 31 goals last year, so Pond expects it will take some time before the offense resets.
“I felt like we hustled, but we missed some control at times. We’ll improve as the season goes along, but it’s something we’ve got to work on. We’ve got to get better at controlling the ball. We had a lot of possession we just gave away,” he said.
On the other side, Gaston Day (0-4-1) held possession at times in the midfield, but also had trouble finding the final ball to set up All-State forward Nick Deely in the middle of the field for scoring chances.
“I thought our guys really put forth great effort. Again, it was just the final third, we weren’t good enough in the final third,” said Spartans coach Greg Lekavich. “Hats off the Hunter Huss. We’ll get back at it (in practice) tomorrow and try to be better on Wednesday.”
Both teams have a long way to go to find the right chemistry and work out the early kinks. Pond said he was pleased to get into the win column as the team settles into the new year.
“We got some of the first-game jitters out of the way,” he said.
The Cup continues Tuesday at Gaston Christian School with South Point against Stuart Cramer at 6 p.m., followed by Ashbrook against Forestview at 8 p.m.
By Jack Flagler jflagler@gastongazette.com
GASTONIA — Huss coach Michael Pond calls senior Junior Tellez a “wherever-I-need-him type guy.”
The versatile and creative Huskies senior can play forward or in the midfield for Huss depending on how the team wants to play. He can be wherever his coach wants him to be, and Monday night he was a difference-maker in the first round of the Gazette Cup against Gaston Day.
Tellez scored on a precisely-placed penalty kick in the 14th minute of play for the lone goal in his team’s 1-0 win over the Spartans in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Gaston Christian School to kick off the Cup.
Huss will move on to face Gaston Christian on Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the semifinal match, while Gaston Day will take on North Gaston at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the consolation round.
“He’s a talented player wherever he’s at. He can play the center of the field, forward if I can get my forwards together, he controls the field and sees things very well,” Pond said of Tellez. The Huss coach then smiled and added, “He’s not even that bad a goalie.”
After the initial scoring breakthrough, chances were few and far between for both teams in a choppy game played mostly in the midfield.
Huss lost most of its offensive output from last year in forwards Jorge Espinoza, Isaiah Villanueva and Zack Antrum. Those three were each All-Conference players and combined for 31 goals last year, so Pond expects it will take some time before the offense resets.
“I felt like we hustled, but we missed some control at times. We’ll improve as the season goes along, but it’s something we’ve got to work on. We’ve got to get better at controlling the ball. We had a lot of possession we just gave away,” he said.
On the other side, Gaston Day (0-4-1) held possession at times in the midfield, but also had trouble finding the final ball to set up All-State forward Nick Deely in the middle of the field for scoring chances.
“I thought our guys really put forth great effort. Again, it was just the final third, we weren’t good enough in the final third,” said Spartans coach Greg Lekavich. “Hats off the Hunter Huss. We’ll get back at it (in practice) tomorrow and try to be better on Wednesday.”
Both teams have a long way to go to find the right chemistry and work out the early kinks. Pond said he was pleased to get into the win column as the team settles into the new year.
“We got some of the first-game jitters out of the way,” he said.
The Cup continues Tuesday at Gaston Christian School with South Point against Stuart Cramer at 6 p.m., followed by Ashbrook against Forestview at 8 p.m.
