The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PRESCOTT - It was good to be a Tiger last week as the team celebrated its accomplishments at its annual soccer awards banquet.

Prescott's Athletic Director Sue DeRuwe said she had the privilege this year of riding the bus with the team to games and shared dinners with the players on long trips.

"They practiced hard, played hard and they never gave up," DeRuwe said.

Despite falling short and not returning to finals to fight for the state title this year, head coach Mark Grimm followed through with his motto of "I only want what's best for the kids," DeRuwe said.

The team finished in the top 8 of 24 this season.

Grimm thanked the team and assistant coach Jay Potts for two solid seasons together. He said the team had ups and downs this year and it came close to bringing home the state title again.

"We have a quality team," Grimm said. "We just came up short on the game we didn't need to come up short on."

He thanked the support of the school and the school board and stressed that despite what happens on the soccer field, what happens in the classroom is the most important.

"I hate to see it end," he said of the season.

Each player was honored by the coaches and a lucky few were presented awards based on votes by the whole team.

The Most Inspirational Athlete award went to senior Lino Diaz. Diaz had 27 goals and eight assists this season, averaging more than one goal per game.

"Every team knows about him in the whole state," Grimm said.

Grimm said teams came prepared to take Diaz down and often had four defenders on him. But, he overcame their defensive strategies and still score 27 goals, Grimm said. He added he was proud of Diaz for three years in the program and for helping WP win the state title in 2011.

"You gave everything you had," he said.

The Most Improved Athlete was junior Emily Wilson. Wilson is a talented scholar athlete with a 4.0 GPA.

"If every player had your heart, your dedication and your work ethic - we'd be undefeated two years in a row," Grimm said to Wilson.

Most Valuable Player was awarded to Fernando Torres- Escalante. Grimm described him as a player who is the glue on the team who holds everyone together. Front and back, Torres-Escalante played all over the field, Grimm said. And he added Torres-Escalante came a long way and only earned one red card this year.

"He plays with his heart," Grimm said.

The other seniors honored included Aldair Escalante, Jesse Albarran and Liz Xaudaro.