KILGORE’S SOCCER ‘DOGS | The Goudarzi & Young / ETB Team of the Week!
Yeah, if you’re thinking we waited to see what was going to happen before we named our Goudarzi & Young / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week for last week, you’re right.
We did. But they were going to win it anyway, after two wins against two first-class programs.
The Kilgore High School Bulldogs boys soccer team was very close to going back to Georgetown’s Birkelbach Stadium to play in the University Interscholastic League’s Class 4A, Division 1 state championship for the first time since 2017.
But that’s not why they won this award.
Kilgore won 21 games this season, lost only four, tied one, and is loaded with talent, a ton of it younger that will be returning next season. And coach Hector Peralez, even though he’s seen so much soccer and he’s not even 30 – not just as a player, but as an assistant coach and in his first two seasons as a head coach with 46 wins.
And THAT’S not why they won this award, either.
This award is based solely on what the Bulldogs did last week.
And brother, they deserved it.
Their backs were against the wall twice.
First off, they had to play a very tough Sulphur Springs team, in Athens, the second half of a doubleheader at Bruce Field.
The first half of that doubleheader: a high-scoring girls game that saw coach Daniel Garcia’s Lady Bulldogs outlast Sulphur Springs, 6-4.
The boys’ game, though, was defense, defense, defense, and Kilgore’s Javier Baide scored the game’s only goal, early in the second half. The Bulldogs had to play their very best defensively the remainder of the game, which they did, and won, 1-0.
Then, they had to go TO Sulphur Springs to face Celina on Friday.
There was quite a bit of irony in that. They had to go TO Sulphur Springs’ Gerald Prim Stadium after beating the Wildcats Tuesday in Athens, and play the team that had beaten Kilgore in the 4A, Division 1 football state title game in December when they got there.
By the way, because of beating Sulphur just three days earlier and knocking the Wildcats from the playoffs, there was NOBODY in Sulphur Springs, except the people that came from Kilgore, of course, that would be rooting for KHS to beat Celina. Not the crowd, not the concession stand workers, not the building and maintenance people, not the ticket-takers – you get the idea.
They were on an island.
And then they had to watch during warm-ups as the Lady Bulldogs, who have been great all year, ran up against one of the all-time great girls soccer teams in the history of this state, the current Celina girls. Celina’s girls have won three straight state championships and before this season even STARTED had won 82 games in the last three years.
They somehow, some way, were able to hold Kilgore scoreless, a Kilgore team that had been blistering folks.
But Celina did it, and beat Kilgore’s girls. The Bulldogs had to collect themselves after that, and take the field for warm-ups to play Celina’s boys, who were no doubt pumped out of their minds and ready to go.
It showed on the field. Few teams all season were able to hold Kilgore under two goals: Port Neches-Groves (on Jan. 17, a 2-1 PN-G win); Pine Tree (on Feb. 3 in regulation; that game would go down as a tie, and end as an eventual PT win in penalty kicks, but Kilgore would get revenge later); Longview (in a playoff warm-up, 3-1, on March 17); and then this week, Nevada Community, the Bulldogs’ eventual season-ending loss).
But last week, Kilgore was playing fast, playing that swarming defense that’s the Bulldogs’ trademark; playing with precision.
Ultimately, though both Kilgore and Celina had their chances to score, the contest would slip into overtime.
That is, in effect, a mini-game: two 10-minute periods, with a short break (very short) in the middle. And the first period, like the rest of regulation, went by quickly. Neither team scored.
The first eight minutes of overtime period No. 2 also went by, but not quite as quickly; they were far more agonizing, for both fan bases. One goal would likely do the trick, the way the teams were playing defense.
Then finally, at long last, a freshman’s kick spoke the loudest: Ethan Reyes put an end to the scoreless tie, the ball hitting the net around the two-minute mark in the second half of the overtime. The Prim Stadium scoreboard read 1-0 Kilgore, one of the most beautiful sights Kilgore fans had surely ever seen, and two equally-agonizing, long minutes later, the clock expired – the Bulldogs were going to the regional finals.
Yes, they would lose there on Tuesday to Nevada Community. But that doesn’t diminish last week’s regional semifinals win.
So for overcoming the odds, for taking on Celina and getting the job done in the regional semifinals, the Kilgore soccer Bulldogs are the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of The Week for March 24-March 30. It’s a little late this week, but congratulations, guys. We’re proud of what you accomplished this season.
And we’re proud to be associated with the namesake of that award, the staff at the Goudarzi & Young firm, founded in 1997 by Brent Goudarzi and now one of the nation’s best at handling cases involving 18-wheeler and car accidents, personal and property injuries, oilfield and burn injuries, insurance claims, and wrongful death.
Anyone who calls Brent or his partner, Marty Young, or any of the attorneys on staff at their firm is calling the best, and fees aren’t paid unless they win.
They have offices in Gilmer (at 301 North Titus Street) and in Longview (at 3522 Fourth Street), and can be reached at (903) 843-2544, or toll-free at (800) 256-169. E-mail them at goudarziyoung@goudarzi-young.com, or visit them online here: About Us – Goudarzi & Young – East Texas Personal Injury Attorneys.
If you do contact them, expect success.
And congratulations again to coaches Hector Peralez and Kaleb Brisendine and the Kilgore Bulldogs for being named the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week for March 24-30!