ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO! | Kilgore soccer tops W-H; faces Panther Creek Saturday with a trip to state on the line

By SHAWN CHRISTOPHER

The scoreboard at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium says "Visitors 2, Home 0," and that was following the Kilgore Bulldogs' UIL 4A Region II Tournament soccer win over Wilmer-Hutchins on Friday afternoon. Now, the Bulldogs are one win away from going back to the UIL State Tournament next week. They meet Palestine back at Rose Stadium on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. (Photo courtesy of ANNETTE WILEY) — The scoreboard at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium says “Visitors 2, Home 0,” and that was following the Kilgore Bulldogs’ UIL 4A Region II Tournament soccer win over Wilmer-Hutchins on Friday afternoon. Now, the Bulldogs are one win away from going back to the UIL State Tournament next week. They meet Panther Creek, a Frisco area school, back at Rose Stadium on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. (Photo courtesy of ANNETTE WILEY)

TYLER – Mission one complete.

Mission two – that’s coming Saturday.

The Kilgore High School Bulldogs gave their fans a nail-biter, but won here in Tyler on Friday morning / early afternoon, taking Wilmer-Hutchins out of the University Interscholastic League’s Class 4A boys soccer playoffs by a 2-0 score.

The teams played at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium, as a part of the UIL’s 4A Region II Tournament. And that’s where Kilgore will play Panther Creek on Saturday, an 11 a.m. start. Our story originally said Palestine; ETBlitz regrets the error. Sorry about that.

Tickets can be purchased online at to https://www.tylerisd.hometownticketing.com/embed/all.

The Kilgore-Panther Creek winner will go back to Georgetown next week for the UIL State Tournament, and both have been regulars there over the last decade-plus.

More on that in a minute. Before facing Panther Creek, Kilgore had to beat a very good Wilmer-Hutchins team, and that proved to be far from easy.

A frustrating first half where Kilgore fans could be heard moaning about some of the officials’ calls – and very easily could have had a more-than-one-goal lead. Instead, it was a scoreless game at halftime.

Finally, in the second half, Enrique Salazar punched in a goal, giving Kilgore a 1-0 lead.

On Tuesday night, the Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead and had to weather the storm against No. 1-ranked Jacksonville.

It was similar against W-H, but then Salazar took the pressure off of the Bulldogs and put it squarely on the players for the Eagles. Salazar scored a second goal, this time off an assist from Jose Gonzalez, doubling Kilgore’s lead to 2-0.

Like two of their previous three games, Kilgore’s defense tightened even more, and squeezed Wilmer-Hutchins right out of the playoffs. Hutchins finished the season with a 19-4 record.

And it was the second time in recent years that’s happened: Kilgore also beat W-H in 2015.

That means Kilgore is one win away from punching its ticket to the 4A state tournament. And that, as usual, is at Georgetown’s Birkelbach Stadium on April 10.

If the Bulldogs are able to beat Panther Creek on Saturday, they’ll play a semifinal that day. A win in the semis means a championship game appearance next Friday, April 12, at 2:30 p.m.

Here’s the UIL state soccer tournament link: Soccer State Tournament — University Interscholastic League.

Kilgore is attempting to reach the tournament for the first time since winning its state soccer championship in 2017.

Panther Creek, from the Frisco area, beat Palestine, 2-1, in two overtimes on Friday.

The Panthers got to the regional tournament by winning three playoff games: Kaufman, North Dallas, and Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy.

Each of the Panthers’ last three playoff games went to overtime, and all, including the win over Palestine, were 2-1.

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