By Doug Layman Correspondent
Published: May 8, 2008

Waynesboro’s Martin Mandujano made his last regular-season game a memorable one.
Less than a minute into the game, the lightning-quick Mandujano stole a Fort Defiance pass, broke away from the field and finessed a shot past Indians’ keeper Derek Uhler.
That was the only score top-seeded Waynesboro would get as the Little Giants hung on to knock off the No. 2 Indians 1-0 in Southern Valley soccer action at the WHS pitch Thursday in a match shortened by a lightning threat.
The win clinched the Southern Valley District regular season title for the Little Giants.
The game was called in the 37th minute of the second half as rolling thunder and flashes of lightning proved to be too much for either team to overcome.
“I am thrilled that we won,” Waynesboro coach Bill Meicke said after the game was called. “I just wish we had been able to play the entire match. But a win in this game was very important to our players.”
After the opening goal, the Fort tightened its defense and Uhler had six saves to his credit as Waynesboro missed seven shots on goal.
Fort also made things tight, missing several close shots including a goal-banger midway through the first half.
“We had our chances,” Indians’ coach Brent Hull said. “That one shot hit the goal post and [Waynesboro] picked up a deflected ball and [Mandujano] hit a nice shot. But after that one goal, our keeper played really well.”
Waynesboro stayed on the offensive most of the first half using crisp passing and downfield speed to its advantage.
“Waynesboro did a good job of passing inside-outside,” Hull said. “But later in the first half we were starting to win balls and playing better.”
Fort was very aggressive in the final minutes of the first half and opened the second half on the attack. But the visitors didn’t have enough time for a game-changing play.
That was reserved for Mandujano.
The junior punched the lone score into the corner of the goal from about 20 feet.
“I hit it not so hard to the corner where the keeper wasn’t [playing],” he said. “But I didn’t think it would be the only goal of the game.”
The score was Mandujano’s 18 of the season and the Waynesboro forward is looking ahead to the post season.
“I won’t be able to play next season because of my age,” he said. “We are champions right now and I want this team to go out as state champions. I think we can do that.
“We have a really great team with a lot of talent on the field,” Mandujano said. “We’ve been playing together a long time and we have learned to [anticipate] each other and where we will be on the field.”
But Meicke is not looking quite as far as Mandujano. Instead, he’s looking forward to the Southern Valley tournament.
“With our win tonight, we’ll host the [tournament] matches on our field,” he said. “We think that the wider field is an advantage for us.”
If the wide pitch isn’t enough of a benefit for Waynesboro, perhaps Meicke’s friendship with Zeus will be.