A Winning End to the Season
Bigfoot FC 1, Midlakes United 4
Midlakes United closed out the 2026 season on Sunday with a trip to Maple Valley and a 4-1 win over Bigfoot FC. It was the team’s first road win of the year, and a fitting way to send the summer off.
The scoring did not start in Midlakes’ favor. In the 29th minute, Bigfoot forward Ignacio Brandan slipped past a Midlakes defender and worked the ball into the middle of the box. Defender Bowen Teuber pounced and put Bigfoot ahead 1-0.
The lead lasted three minutes. Defender Harrison Shaw, from the back line, sent a long ball forward to Lucas McAllister and caught the Bigfoot defense sleeping. McAllister chested it down, dribbled easily behind the last outfield players, and slotted in the equalizer.
Just five minutes after that, Midlakes took the lead for good. Defender Arjun Venkat intercepted a Bigfoot pass, carried it upfield, and fed it to forward Trey Mitchell. Bigfoot keeper Landon Gordon saved Mitchell’s shot, but the rebound fell back to Venkat, who buried it for the 2-1 lead.
Those two goals came during a productive stretch of 11 minutes in which Midlakes fired off four of its seven total shots on target. For most of the match thereafter, Bigfoot was on the back foot.
The insurance came late. In the 80th minute, an errant Bigfoot clearance found Kavi Badh at the top of the box. Badh set up Reise Corpuz, who drove a low shot past Gordon from 27 yards out to make it 3-1.
Then, two minutes into second-half stoppage time, Midlakes finished off the scoring with a bit of flair. Denilson Velasquez started a quick passing sequence on the left wing that involved Charlie Frink and Badh. Frink laid the ball off to Anthony Henry, who turned and fired it home, nutmegging a Bigfoot defender on the way in.
Henry, a late-season addition brought in to help fill the gap left by a few departures, made an immediate impression. He came on in the 77th minute with hustle, sharp dribbling, and pace to get on the scoresheet. He then pulled off his shirt in celebration and picked up a yellow card, though the referee did take a moment to compliment the finish before reaching for his pocket.
Denilson Velasquez earned Man of the Match honors. He was an effective presence in the midfield throughout the afternoon, linking play between the back line and strikers, covering huge swaths of the field, and making aggressive tackles on defense.
In goal, Will Ficek stopped three of the four shots on target he faced. Brandan was a threat for Bigfoot all match, finishing with five shots plus the assist, but the defense and Ficek did well to keep him contained.
The match was a chippy, physical affair on both sides from start to finish. Midlakes outshot Bigfoot 15 to 13 in total shots and 7 to 4 in shots on target.
With the win and other division results during the final weekend, Midlakes finished the year in fourth place. The victory in Maple Valley was its only road win of the season. The boys in ice blue were 1-6-0 away, but 4-2-1 at home. The work next year is straightforward: play everywhere as they did in Bellevue and Maple Valley. If they can, the Northwest division table will look very different.
photos by Sandra Agboste and Ruben Becerril-Geiger
