HS Soccer: Jaimes' Hat Trick Powers W.F. West to Rivalry Win over Centralia

4/1/2025

W.F. West 4, Centralia 1

(Chehalis, WA) Tuesday night marked a pivotal matchup for both the Centralia Tigers and the W.F. West Bearcats in boys soccer. For the Bearcats, they entered Tuesday night, a perfect 2-0 in Evergreen 2A league play while the Tigers came in at 0-2 in EvCo 2A play despite some tightly contested matches against Black Hills and Tumwater. For Centralia, it was an opportunity to get a league win under their belts and climb out of the bottom of the league standings. For W.F. West, it was an opportunity to take a huge step in their quest to defend the league title.

After the opening kick-off, both teams put together some nice runs as there was not much play in the middle of the field. Centralia had a couple of really strong looks from Damian Corona and Pato Cruz. However, Noel Montenegro came up with a couple huge saves to keep the Tigers off the board.

WF West did not get too many great looks on goal against Alejandro Arevalo, but a foul inside the 18-yard box gave the Bearcats a penalty kick. Adrian “Nano” Jaimes stepped up and sent a little chip shot into the back of the net. The 21st minute goal broke the ice and gave WF West the 1-0 lead.

Centralia dominated possession for the remainder of the half but couldn’t cash in on any of their looks. In the second half, WF West made some adjustments and extended their lead. Uzi Lopez Cruz weaved his way in and out of traffic and delivered a nice through ball to the back post. Alex Mathuzima flew in and sent it into the back of the net to make it 2-0 Bearcats in the 45th minute.

Centralia clawed their way back as they would capitalize on a WF West mistake. A drop kick from Montenegro in goal would go off the back of a Tiger. Miles Paige would fly in and send a goal into the back of the net to get the Tigers on the board in the 59th minute to make it 2-1.

All of a sudden the energy of the match changed. Centralia had found their second wind and turned up the aggression as a result. Colin Bradley would help out his keeper to keep it 2-1. However, the Tigers got too aggressive a couple of times and that led to two more goals by Nano Jaimes in the 66th and 73rd minute with the latter coming off of a free kick from Uzi Lopez Cruz. The hat trick from Jaimes shutdown the comeback bid and WF West pulled away for the 4-1 win.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the match went to Nano Jaimes who notched a hat trick for the Bearcats while also getting involved in a defensive midfield position later in the match.

With the win, W.F. West moves to 4-3 overall and 3-0 in league play. The Bearcats will be off for Spring Break until Monday, April 14th when they host the Skyview Storm in a nonleague match. Centralia drops to 3-4 overall and 0-3 in EvCo 2A play and will also enjoy Spring Break. The Tigers return to action on Thursday, April 10th when they travel to take on the Battle Ground Tigers in a nonleague matchup.