East Valley boys soccer gets ready for playoffs

Coaches love to talk to their players about playing for pride. About representing their school and honoring the players who have worn those same school colors before.

Gabe Escobar gave that speech.

But for a long time, it felt a little hollow exactly half the time.

That’s because Escobar would spend the fall coaching the girls soccer team at East Valley, his alma mater. In the spring, he would coach boys soccer at West Valley, the Knights’ archrival.

“I have the utmost respect for the people at West Valley,” Escobar said. “(Retired Athletics Director) Wayne McKnight gave me the chance to coach boys soccer, and I enjoyed my time there.”

But last year, it all fell into the right place. Escobar finally landed the one job that mattered most to him. He was hired to coach boys soccer on the field he’s always called home, at East Valley.

“I have a long history here,” he said. “My family has gone to school here. My youngest brother graduated from here in what, 2007 – there’s recent history.”

Now in his second year, Escobar has the Knights entering the playoffs as the No. 2 seed from the Great Northern League. They face Clarkston at 6 p.m. Thursday at East Valley while No. 3 seed West Valley plays host to Cheney at 4 p.m.

The winners of today’s games face off Saturday at 3 p.m. in a loser-out game, with the winner qualifying for the regional tournament.

In the GNL, teams play each other three times in the regular season, so Thursday’s games mark the fourth meeting for each team.

So there will be virtually no surprises.

“Not really,” Escobar said. “They know how we’re going to play. We know they like to play a quick-strike kind of an attack and we have to be ready for it.

“Clarkston may not have won a league game this year, but they played everybody tough. Each time we played them it was a one-goal game.”

The two teams met for the third time this season last Thursday, so their memories are fresh.

“It was a close game,” Escobar said. “We were at 0-0 until late in the game and we let down. We let Clarkston score one of those quick-strike goals they like and we were down, 1-0. Fortunately, we were able to rally and we muscled in a goal to tie it and another one to get the win in double overtime.

“We just can’t let down against them.”

Like a typical Escobar-coached team, the Knights enter the playoffs on a roll – playing their best soccer of the season at just the right time.

“I think it just kind of goes this way,” he said. “My coaching style and philosophy is that you have to play the whole season. It’s not about how we start, it’s about how we finish. My goal is to have us playing our best at the end of the season.

“I think part of it is that we’re not going to be afraid to make adjustments as we go. The formation I’m playing now is not the one we started, and the starting lineup we have now isn’t the same one we started with. We’re not afraid to take chances.”

Tristan Gresh is a prime example, moving to an outside midfielder spot during the season – a move made to give him the chance to get more touches on the ball and to better utilize his speed.

Escobar has a strong lineup and is entering the playoffs with a team that has seen an even dozen players score goals.

Devonte Gorman, who set up the winning goal in last week’s thriller with Clarkston, is the team’s top goal-scoring threat. Gresh scored the game winner.

“Kyle Richardson is our center midfielder and he’s a kid who doesn’t find his way into the box score,” Escobar said. “He hasn’t scored a goal or had an assist all season, but he’s the guy who makes the key stop for us and then finds the right player with the pass. More likely as not, that guy makes the assist.

“And I can’t say enough about our keeper, Kohl Tomcho. He kind of gets lost in the shadows, but he’s been incredible all year long. We wouldn’t be in the position we’re in now without him.

“When we beat Cheney in a shootout, we went 10 shooters before we won it. Kohl blocked five blocks for us, including on Cheney’s 10th shooter. And then he goes out and scores the winning penalty kick for us.”