The game referees confer before giving possession of a short Tigers’ kickoff back to Republic after the ball hit a Pateros player and was recovered by a Tiger.
“We were able to get a little cushion after forcing a turnover,” said Stennes.
PATEROS – It was anybody’s game through three quarters of play as two well-matched teams from visiting Republic and host Pateros battled it out in non-league action last Friday, Oct. 13.
The Tigers with a 4-2 record in the 1B Northeast League gave a workout to the Billygoats who improved their overall record to 3-3 with the 32-24 win over Republic but remain in the Central Washington 1B cellar at 0-2. Pateros hopes to change that when it hosts 0-1 Wellpinit at 7 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 20.
“Our defense stepped up and kept us in the game,” said Pateros coach Marcus Stennes. “We were led in tackles by Jeremy Piechalski with 11 and Andrew Gonzalez with 10.
Republic took a six-point lead into halftime and held on to it the Billygoats caught the Tigers in their headlights.
Republic still had time to erase that slim two-point lead until the Pateros defense managed to get the ball back.
An Andrew Gonzalez touchdown put Pateros up by eight points. The Tigers would have to score a TD and two-point conversion to tie the game.
Sophomore defensive back, Ivan Ceniceros took away that possibility with interception with 45 seconds left to seal the win.