Carlos Gutierrez Scores in Sudden Death to Win Wild Game
October 27, 2023
Carlos Gutierrez beat the goalie to the ball and scored the game winner on a header in overtime off a cross from Orlando Chinchilla to cap off a wild finish as the Huntington boys’ soccer team topped Comsewogue, 4-3 in a Suffolk Class AA quarterfinal game before a crowd of 500 at Blue Devil Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
Gutierrez scored his 15th goal of the year less than two minutes into sudden death overtime to make Huntington (14-2-1) a winner. The third seeded Blue Devils will travel to No. 2 East Hampton (11-2-1) on Monday for a 2 p.m. game. The winner will advance to the county finals.
Carlos Marroquin and Jonathan Morales both scored in the first half to give Huntington a 2-0 halftime advantage, but then the Blue Devil offense sputtered. Comsewogue (8-6) scored a pair of goals to knot the score at 2-2.
Huntington was hampered as player after player went down with either an injury or painful leg cramps, including key defender Jerson Contreras. A Comsewogue hand ball gave Blue Devil senior Bryan Lizama a penalty kick and he blasted a rocket past Warrior goalkeeper Julian Diecco with seven minutes remaining to put Huntington ahead 3-2 much to the delight of the huge crowd.
But no lead was safe in this game and a few minutes later, Comsewogue scored again to tie things up 3-3 and ultimately force overtime.
After a short break as the teams prepared for the first 15 minute sudden death overtime period, Huntington experienced a Willis Reed-New York Knicks moment as Contreras returned to the field following a long second half absence. The emotional lift was immediately felt.
Chinchilla executed a beautiful cross to Gutierrez who raced to the ball and outleaped Diecco and headed in the game winner 1:38 into overtime.
“The way that the game went was unexpected, but our focus and determination paid off and at the end we were able to get the win,” said Gutierrez, who also notched an assist in the game. “The people in the stands supporting us were amazing. We will keep working hard. We’re not done yet.”
No. 6 Comsewogue played a great game and gave Huntington (14-2-1) all it could handle. Blue Devil goalie Dylan Hayden stopped seven shots in the win.
“We had to continue to fight even though we gave up a 2-0 lead,” said Lizama, who played an exceptional game. “Our heads needed to stay up and our spirit high. We had a great crowd backing us up and we couldn’t let them down. As Coach [Jason] Suarez has always told us: ‘We haven’t done nothin’ yet.’ That has always been our mentality and will stay like that going forward. We will continue to keep our head down and prepare for our next opponent.”
The importance of Contreras to the defense and to the team cannot be overstated. He’s not only skilled but a leader and Huntington needs him on the field to be successful.
“We didn’t put our heads down after the two times they came back and tied to us,” Contreras said. “We weren’t going out that easy. We fought until the end and we came out on top in overtime. We are going to do something really special this year. I believe it.”
