KILGORE TOPS SABINE LATE, 2-0 | Lady ‘Dogs get win at Sabine on Friday

It was a playoff feel Saturday morning at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium in Kilgore, as it usually is when rivals Kilgore and Sabine – just six miles apart – meet in soccer: the only sport in which they’re actually in the same district, due to UIL classification separation.

Kilgore kept the pressure on Sabine for the entire contest, and the Cardinals’ backs were against the wall for much of it: the Bulldogs took 13 corner kicks and missed all 13.

But in the end, with time running out and with the pressure on, the Bulldogs put the ball in the net, scoring twice in the final 8 ½ minutes to claim a 2-0 win in District 15-4A.

Kilgore had lost last week on the road at Center, a 3-1 loss and the Bulldogs’ first district loss since a setback at Henderson three years ago. But the ‘Dogs have swept Sabine, now, and even though they still have to play Henderson again later this season, Kilgore is 15-1-2 overall and 8-1 in district play. That’s still with seven games remaining in the schedule.

Sabine is 15-2-1, and 7-2 in district play, and the Cardinals’ only two losses? You guessed it, both to Kilgore. The Cardinals have actually scored 86 goals this season, and have been beating folks down, but haven’t been able to put it in the net in the two games against KHS, outscored in those two games 6-0.

Speaking of 6-0, that was the score of the Kilgore-Sabine girls varsity game on Friday night: Kilgore’s Lady Bulldogs beat Sabine’s girls, 6-0.

Coach Todd BonDurant’s Lady ‘Dogs are now 13-3-1 overall and 9-1 in district play, trailing only Henderson in the standings. They’ve won five straight games.

Looking ahead, the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs will both visit New Diana on Tuesday – there are no junior varsity games. The varsity girls will play at 5 p.m., and varsity boys will follow.

After that, same format on Friday, as Tenaha comes to R.E. St. John. Tenaha has no JV, so varsity girls will play at 5, and varsity boys afterward.

Sabine’s boys will host Center on Tuesday, with JV at 5 p.m., varsity to follow; the Lady Cardinals visit Center, in that same format on Tuesday.

Next Friday, March 1, both Sabine teams visit New Diana; varsity girls play at 5, and then varsity boys afterward.

Back to Kilgore-Sabine on Saturday morning.

Sabine keeper Jovany Jaimes was under fire early, but made an excellent save with 33:20 left in the first half, just seven minutes in, when Kilgore’s Diego Rojas almost scored on a breakaway.

Sabine returned the favor with two quick shots-on-goal around the 32-minute mark, but Kilgore keeper Chris Martinez got a save and also got some defensive help from Gustavo Trejo.

What followed was a bizarre series of corner kicks by the Bulldogs that just simply would not break into the net at all – one after another, six in all in the first half, that left Kilgore and Sabine scoreless at halftime.

Kilgore played, for the most part, without senior Leo Yzaguirre, who’s been nursing an injury, and without Jose Vasquez in the first half, but both played sparingly in the second half.

Still, the corner kick luck continued into the second half, and started in the first two minutes, again just missing.

Finally, the Bulldogs broke through, not on a corner kick, but on just a heck of a shot by Jerson Avelar Flores with 8:24 left (officially 8:10 left when the clock was stopped by the midfield official). That gave Kilgore fans a sigh of relief that you could almost hear audibly, and then came a second goal, with 6:25 left in the game. That one was scored by freshman Christian Ramirez, one of a talented group of ninth-graders for coach Hector Peralez.

Jerson Avelar Flores’ goal was assisted by Rojas, and Ramirez’s goal was off an assist by junior Jorge Aleman.

Sabine began to press even harder offensively after Kilgore scored its final goal, but it was too late, as it turned out, and the Bulldogs had wrapped the contest, with that 2-0 final score.