Jaguar soccer sweeps Eagles after long lightning delay

TOMÈ — The record will show the Valencia boys and girls soccer teams defeated their counterparts from Belen on Tuesday in the first of two meetings. However, the stat sheet doesn’t show the games lasted three hours, had a lightning delay and was engulfed in darkness at the final whistle.

With two minutes left in the first half of the District 5-4A contests, lightning caused an hour-and-a-half break.

As for the action, the VHS (7-9, 2-2) boys scored just three minutes into the match and ended a four-game losing streak with a 5-0 victory over the Eagles (2-14, 0-4).

“It was chaotic, physical, plus a weather delay,” said Pecos Jones, who had three goals for VHS. “It was interesting to say the least.”

In the girls match, played on an adjacent field at the same time, BHS (3-11, 1-3) took the lead just seconds into the game. However, AveMarie Burkhard found the net four times to carry VHS (2-13, 2-2) to a 5-3 win.

“It was very nice,” Burkhard said about handling Belen. “Last year, we were almost there, but this year we got it.”

Also Tuesday, lightning postponed the Los Lunas boys (1-13, 0-3) game at Albuquerque High in District 5-5A. The LLHS girls (7-7-1, 2-1) were scheduled to host AHS (6-6-1, 3-0) on Wednesday, but that game was also called off because of lightning. It has been rescheduled for 3 p.m., Friday at LLHS.

On Thursday, the VHS girls defeated Grants 5-1, while the Jaguar boys handled the Pirates 7-1.