Score one for Esperanza coach John King and the sportsmanship his team displayed against Canyon late in Tuesday’s match.

With time running out in the first overtime, play was stopped so an injured Canyon player could come off the field.

The ref awarded Esperanza an indirect kick near midfield, but still close enough for Rylee Baisden to get the ball into the box.

Canyon coach Walter Camargo even asked the ref why his team couldn’t kick the ball back to Esperanza the old-fashioned way instead of Esperanza now having an obvious advantage with time running down in a golden goal overtime.

Instead, King had Baisden kick the ball back to their goalie to begin play and go from there.

And it was a great job by Camargo and the Canyon fans to applaud the move by Esperanza.

Playing with class in an intense league match?

It is possible.

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