Crush play Taft to 1-1 tie in crucial CVC game

Clovis Community College's hopes at a Central Valley Conference championship were dealt a blow on Friday after the Crush played visiting Taft College to a 1-1 tie.

The Crush moved to 3-1-3 in the CVC with just one game to play while Taft is 3-1-2 with two left to play. Both teams are chasing conference-leading Fresno City College at 4-1-1 with two games remaining. Clovis will need to win its final game on Tuesday (Nov. 12) at West Hills College Lemoore (1-5 CVC) and will need losses by Fresno and Taft in order to come away with a conference title.

Taft jumped out to an early lead in Friday's contest, getting a goal off a free kick by Johan Rodriguez from just outside the box in the fifth minute.

The physical battle remained 1-0 at halftime and all the way until the 70^th minute when the Crush finally broke through. After a hard foul by Taft inside the box, Jordon Wilkins scored a penalty-kick goal to draw the Crush even and secure the tie.

Clovis, now 11-3-6 overall, is unbeaten over its last 10 games. The Crush also went unbeaten at home for the first time in program history.