Guzman's 'trick' Williams' treat

Humberto Guzman's Yellowjacket teammates may begin referring to him as the "minute man" after Tuesday's soccer match-up between SVL-leading Williams and the second-place Pierce Bears played in Williams.

That's because Guzman, the leading Jackets goal scorer, scored goals in the first minute and last minute - as well as one in between - for a three-goal hat trick that powered Williams to a 3-2 win.

"Humberto had a very good game, rising to the occasion, " said Williams coach Renea Garcia. "[They] planned to mark up on him and he beat their defense."

It took Guzman all of one shot to beat the Pierce defense the first time, as he stuck his first shot and the first shot of the game low and to the left of Pierce keeper Ben Jaregui and into the cage for a 1-0 lead in the first minute.

In the 28^th minute Guzman struck again, and again the score was unassisted to put the Jackets up 2-0.

Antonio Ruiz picked up his sixth goal of the season in the 35^th minute of the first half to cut the lead in half, and that's where it stood as the two teams went into the intermission.

Pierce turned up the heat offensively coming out for the second half, and scored the equalizer on the unlikeliest of opportunities.

The Bears' Rogelio Melendrez sent the ball toward the Williams net almost from another zip code, but the bounding ball took a fortuitous hop for Pierce and an unlucky bounce for the Yellowjackets, past keeper Antonio Pina and in to tie the game.

Melendrez found himself with another excellent scoring opportunity in the 40^th minute when Pina came out to cut down the angle, but Melendrez's shot trickled wide of the goal.

Finally in the final minute, Guzman buried his third and the game-winning goal for Williams - his 19^th of the year.

With the win Williams put a little breathing room in between themselves and Pierce, with the Yellowjackets climbing to 9-0-2 while the Bears dropped to 9-2-1.

Williams visited Rio Vista (2-7-1) Thursday, and continues on the road next week with a Tuesday game at Live Oak and a Thursday trip to Colusa.

Pierce plays at 3-6-1 Hamilton Tuesday and returns to Arbuckle to host Rio Vista.