SOCCER BULLDOGS WIN IN OT! | Ethan Reyes scores game-winner; KHS vs. Community TUESDAY IN TERRELL; Lady ‘Dogs, Henderson both slip
Anytime you have to describe something as “bittersweet,” it’s normally not good for your side.
Or your night.
Three soccer programs from the ETBlitz.com – Henderson High School’s boys, Kilgore High School’s girls, and the Kilgore boys – all lined up Friday night against opponents in the University Interscholastic League playoffs; Henderson competing in the UIL Class 4A, Division 2 boys playoffs, and both Kilgore teams in the 4A, Division 1 playoffs.
Unfortunately for East Texas, it only worked out for one of them.
Kilgore’s girls and boys were both facing Celina in a monster, third-round doubleheader to beat the band: a winner-take-all set-up in Sulphur Springs that was to begin Friday afternoon with the girls game, and finish up with the Bulldogs taking on Celina – a familiar foe most recently – in the nightcap.
Henderson was to meet Gainesville at Forney’s City Bank Stadium.
In the end, coach Hector Peralez’s Kilgore Bulldogs outlasted Celina in an overtime nailbiter, 1-0.
The talking is done, and the matchup is set for the UIL Class 4A, Division I Region II Finals. It’s going to be Kilgore vs. Nevada Community (14-3-2) on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. at Terrell Memorial Stadium (1300 W. Moore Avenue, Terrell, TX 75160). Kilgore (21-3-1) will be the visiting team.
But first, Kilgore had to overcome Celina…
Kilgore 1, Celina 0, overtime (boys): Somewhere, for some reason, why do we think KHS head football coach Clint Fuller has a big, broad smile on his face right now?
He’s not the only one. There were some happy young men in the visitor’s locker room at Sulphur Springs on Friday night, after a hard-fought game against a very good Celina team, whose season ended only after a regulation game, then what amounted to a mini-game.
In Texas, tied after regulation means two overtime “halves” of 10 minutes each. If, after those two 10-minute periods (and yes, you must play ‘em both), the game moves to penalty kicks.
And in a penalty kick situation, who knows WHAT will happen.
But after a grueling regulation battle where neither team scored, similar to Kilgore’s game earlier this week in Athens against Sulphur Springs, off to overtime we went.
The first overtime came and went, neither team budging an inch.
And finally, with two minutes left, Ethan Reyes, just a freshman, said, “Enough of this,” and scored for Kilgore (now 21-3-1 on the season). The Bulldogs put on their skates, so to speak, and iced the clock for the final two minutes, and Celina – you’re out the door.
We alluded earlier to coach Fuller, jokingly; it was Celina that ended Kilgore’s football season in the 4A-D1 state championship game.
The Bobcats finished the season with a 16-3-3 record.
Kilgore has three straight wins, all in the playoffs, and is looking to get back to Birkelbach Stadium in Georgetown, where it played in the state semifinals just last year in coach Hector Peralez’s first season as head coach. The Bulldogs have won a combined 46 games under Peralez since he took the helm, and will face Nevada Community Tuesday in the regional finals.
Community, by the way, defeated Pine Tree, 4-2, in the first half of that doubleheader at Forney on Friday night.
Celina 7, Kilgore 0 (girls): The Lady Bobcats did something that no one – well, no one on the ETBlitz.com crew – thought they could: they shut Kilgore out.
That’s not easy to do, with all of the weapons coach Daniel Garcia has at his disposal. But give Celina credit: they did.
They not only were able to do that, but they scored three goals in the first half, and four in the second, to get the win. That means Celina is 25-1, their only loss coming WAY back on January 14 at Argyle, and they’ve won 22 straight games.
They’ve only allowed seven goals all season.
But you might expect that from a team looking for a fourth consecutive state title.
That’s right: Celina won the state title in 2022, 2023 and 2024. They were 82-2-2 prior to this season, and now they’re 107-3-2 going into their regional final.
So Kilgore’s Lady Bulldogs, you have absolutely nothing to hold your heads down about. Celina is putting together one of the great high school soccer runs in the history of the state.
Kilgore had a fantastic season in Garcia’s first year. Senior Phenix Rivers came oh-so-close to setting a new all-time career scoring record for the Lady Bulldogs. Kilgore finished the season 18-4-1, and won the District 15-4A championship.
In the process, they didn’t lose a single, solitary district game. The next district loss Garcia has will be his first!
As far as the postseason, the Lady Bulldogs beat Lufkin Hudson, 5-0, in the first round of the 4A, Division 1 playoffs at the Tomato Bowl in Jacksonville, and then beat a very, very good Sulphur Springs team, 6-4, in double overtime on Tuesday night at Bruce Field in Athens.
And there’s plenty of reasons to believe winning will continue next year, with good talent returning.
Gainesville 4, Henderson 0 (boys): Henderson came into this game with momentum, and the knowledge that it had some quality wins on its schedule. After all, who could the Lions face that would be tougher than Kilgore, Pine Tree and Center? Those teams were in Henderson’s own DISTRICT.
But Gainesville didn’t win 15 games and lose just three because they were playing against small children.
Forney’s City Bank Stadium turf wound up being a pretty friendly place for the Leopards, who are now 16-3-3.
Get this: Gainesville hasn’t actually lost since Feb. 7 – they’ve had two ties since then, and several wins. But that loss, back on the 7th, who was it to?
Celina, ironically enough.
Henderson, which finished the season 13-7 under coach Jorge Cardenas, had won six straight going into the matchup, but just couldn’t muster enough offense to stay in the game.
So Gainesville will advance to the regional final to play either Sunnyvale or Center, whomever came out of Friday night’s matchup.
