The Heritage boys soccer team remains undefeated in the 3A Greater St. Helens League.
And thanks to a clutch late goal, the Timberwolves are on the cusp of a league title.
Elliot Maldonado headed in a corner kick in the final minute overtime, lifting Heritage to a 1-0 win over Evergreen on Friday night at McKenzie Stadium.
“It feels great,” Heritage coach Davis Delamarter said. “Elliott being able to put that away after getting hurt on the play right before it was huge. It just shows grit, and that’s what we want to teach these guys in high school — that good things come through grit and hard work.”
The Timberwolves brought of lot of pressure late in the regulation. But thanks to several pivotal saves in goal by Evergreen goalkeeper Christian Perez Martinez, it appeared that Heritage would be headed to its second 0-0 draw of the week, tying Mountain View earlier in the week.
All-Region Sports Awards Ceremony
The Columbian will be hosting its second annual All-Region Sports Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at The Hilton Vancouver Washington.
The event will be 6-8 p.m. Admission is $15 and includes food and drink.
Tickets are available now by clicking on link.
An opportunity presented itself in the final minute of regulation when the Plainsmen drew a red card, meaning they would have to play the 10 minutes of overtime a man down.
And yet, the Timberwolves still couldn’t find the back of the net.
“The team gave everything they had,” Evergreen coach Keenan Burris said.
But Heritage continued the pressure, creating back-to-back corner kicks in the final minute of the second five-minute overtime.
And as the Timberwolves have done all season, they used a little teamwork to produce the winning goal.
Nicolas Garcia hit the corner kick into the crowd of players in front of the Evergreen goal.
Leonel Herrera-Malvaez got the first head on the ball, then Maldonado popped the ball over a diving Perez Martinez for the winner.
“It was a corner from my boy Nico,” Maldonado said. “It popped over to my head, and I just popped it in over the keeper’s hands. Yeah, I’m glad it went in.”
Instead of being 4-0-2 in the 3A GSHL with another draw, the Timberwolves moved to 5-0-1 and 16 points, taking a six-point lead over Mountain View 3-2-1. Evergreen fell to 3-2 in league.
The Timberwolves can clinch the league title with a win over Prairie at home on Tuesday.
“It feels great,” Maldonado said. “Our team put a lot of effort, 100 percent. It was the last 10 (minutes) of overtime. You always have to put 100. We finally scored. We’ve been waiting for it. And now we’re going to go celebrate.”
