Playing on their home turf, West faced a must-win situation in its fight to keep its postseason hopes alive. The Panthers are hanging on to the sixth-place spot in Region 6 and needed a win against Highland to keep them close to fourth- and fifth-place teams Cottonwood and Murray.
Following a 6-1 loss to the Rams, however, things are not looking so good for the Panthers.
For Highland, the win was one more step up in the Rams' unexpected rise to the top of the region, placing them just a game behind second-place East heading into their rematch against the Leopards next Tuesday.
"We're going for home-field advantage," said Highland coach Eric Bliss. "Tuesday's game will be huge for both teams."
Against the Panthers, Highland's Ever Garcia and James Rogers each scored in the opening minutes of the game and Rogers scored again late in the first half on a penalty kick, putting the Rams up 3-0 at the break.
West got on the board early in the second half, putting one in just over the fingertips of Highland backup goaltender Luis Escobar.
But from then on it was all Highland. The Ram's Escobar, filling in for primary goalie Clemente Gomez who was out with an injured finger, had two big saves late in the game.
Meanwhile, Highland's Fernando Frias scored on a penalty kick to put the Rams back up 4-1 and Skills Rogers and Arbin Sopjoni each scored within two minutes of each other in the closing minutes to cap off the victory.
Still, Bliss wasn't entirely pleased with his team's offensive effort.
"The game plan was to do something unexpected," said Bliss. "We were too conservative in the second half. When you're up 3-0, people tend to stop playing."
State tournament schedule
Second round
Class 3A
Today, 1 p.m.
Judge at Delta
Morgan at Cedar City
Uintah at Hurricane
Juan Diego at Park City
Class 2A
Today, 1 p.m.
ALA at Richfield
West Ridge at Rowland Hall
S. Summit at Wasatch Academy
Manti at St. Joseph
* Highland's Ever Garcia and James Rogers each scored in the opening minutes.
* Rogers scored on a penalty kick, putting the Rams up 3-0 at the break.
