High school soccer: Granger bounces back with defeat of Murray

MURRAY — Though they were coming off back-to-back, heartbreaking double-overtime losses to Region 6 heavyweights East and Olympus, the Granger Lancers knew they didn't have any time to feel sorry for themselves.

In order to make sure they remained on course for the 4A state tournament, the Lancers knew they absolutely needed to get a result on the road to Murray on Friday afternoon in what was their first match since those stinging defeats.

If those losses bothered Granger's youthful players beforehand, however, they sure didn't play like it.

Daniel Mizero, Gibran Molina and Manuel Argumedo all scored goals for the Lancers inside the opening 20 minutes, and they took care of business the rest of the afternoon en route to a badly-needed 4-1 win over Murray on Friday.

"We had a heartbreaking loss to Olympus, and we just talked about how (important) this game was — playoffs or go home, basically," said Granger coach Opie Okeson. "We knew that, and they stepped up to the challenge. Our whole goal is just to get to the playoffs, so we knew how big this game was to keep Murray below us."

Friday's victory, combined with other results in the league, leaves Granger on the cusp of qualifying for the playoffs.

With two games to go, the Lancers have at worst guaranteed themselves a play-in game. And they'll qualify officially for the 4A tournament by gaining one point in either of their final two games (at home against Highland and on the road at West) or by having Murray and Cottonwood drop one more point apiece.

"We feel confident that we've done our part ... We know we're right there and we know it's in our hands," said Okeson.

Granger's coach could confidently say that after his players walked off the pitch with a commanding win over Murray.

Realistically, the Lancers needed just 20 minutes to permanently take control of Friday's contest.

Following some early pressure, Mizero put Granger ahead, 1-0, in the 11th minute when his sweetly-struck bomb from 25 yards bent around Murray's goalkeeper and nestled inside the upper-right corner.

"I just got the ball, and they've been telling me to shoot more, so I just trapped the ball and set it down perfectly and took the shot," said Mizero, who dictated Granger's play from the middle of the park. "And it went in."

Murray actually responded pretty well after Mizero's opener, but the Spartans found themselves trailing by two goals after Molina's hopeful shot from distance in the 15th minute slid underneath Murray's keeper and in.

Argumedo completed Granger's scoring spree with another long-distance shot five minutes later.

Murray never recovered, and Granger played decent enough the rest of the way to get all three points.

"Sometimes it takes us a long time get something going, but it just clicked for us today," said Mizero. "We knew we had to do it to make the playoffs."

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