BLAZE OF GLORY – SEASON ENDS FOR BULLDOGS | Kilgore slips to Boerne in 1-0 state semifinal
GEORGETOWN – It was a season with a 16th district championship, five playoff wins, a 100th victory celebration for a senior class full of talent, a Region II title and a return to the University Interscholastic League’s Class 4A state tournament.
It won’t have a state championship – Kilgore lost to Boerne, 1-0, here at Georgetown ISD’s Birkelbach Field on Wednesday afternoon on a sunny, but raging windy, day.
The Bulldogs took down so many goals along the way.
Early in the season, they beat Oak Cliff Faith Family, a soccer power this year. Kilgore swept its season series against Henderson. The ‘Dogs didn’t win every District 15-4A game, but they won them all but one, and captured yet another district title.
Then the playoff run: a shutout of every single team they played except Lindale (a 3-2 Kilgore win) and Boerne in Wednesday’s semifinal.
Kilgore had to play into the wind in the first half, Boerne’s Greyhounds (23-0) with the wind at their backs.
Kilgore goalkeeper Chris Martinez, standing in the goal underneath the stadium’s scoreboard, fended off a few early shots-on-goal, but one finally slipped past him, a shot by Hudson Vickery with 26:08 left in the first half.
It was just the third goal of the playoffs allowed by the Bulldogs.
Unfortunately, that would be enough.
Kilgore pressed, and had its chances. And it was a physical game – at least twice in the contest, Kilgore’s Adan Reyes was fouled hard in front of Boerne’s goal, but there were no calls. The officials were letting them play a hard and fast style of soccer, Texas high school soccer.
In the second half, the keepers switched and so did the wind: to Kilgore’s backs.
It appeared with just under three minutes off the second-half clock that Kilgore’s Enrique Salazar, who scored both of the Bulldogs’ goals against Wilmer-Hutchins, had a sure shot-on-goal on a breakaway, but a Boerne player managed to block the shot right after it left Salazar’s foot.
Kilgore’s Chris Perez had a near-miss with just over 21 minutes left, and then Leo Yzaguirre’s miss with 14 ½ minutes left brought an audible “oooh” from the crowd.
The Bulldogs had one last real gasp, a corner kick with just over a minute left, but no dice. Boerne keeper Ben Niedecken ended up with the ball and the Greyhounds were able to run out the clock.
Kilgore finishes the season, coach Hector Peralez’s first as head coach, with a 25-3-2 record.
The graduating senior class: Chris Martinez, Jose Vasquez, Leo Yzaguirre, Adan Reyes, Diego Rojas, Jacob Contreras, Jobani Chavez, and Joseph Chavez.