WHATABURGER / ETBLITZ.COM PLAYERS OF THE WEEK | First-ever winners are Kilgore’s Diego Rojas, Phenix Rivers!
Diego Rojas and Phenix Rivers helped get both Kilgore High School soccer teams off to good starts to the 2024 season last week in tournament play.
For their performances in the week of Jan. 1-6, Rojas and Rivers are the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week.
Rojas, a senior, had six goals last weekend in the Pine Tree Tournament at Pirate Stadium in Longview for the Bulldogs. Rojas helped Kilgore to a 3-0-1 start. They opened the tournament with a scoreless tie with Paris, then won on penalty kicks, and then won three straight, topping Athens 6-1, Lindale 6-1, then Terrell, 3-0. Kilgore outscored the opposition 15-2 (and the penalty-kick win over Paris in extra session was 3-2).
Rojas was also the winner of the tournament’s Golden Boot Award (most goals) and was named to the all-tournament team, along with teammates Leo Yzaguirre, Jose Vasquez and Chris Martinez.
Rivers, known for her multi-goal performances for the Lady Bulldogs last season, had another one in Kilgore’s season opener last week in their tournament, played here at both R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium and a new field on campus (Kilgore’s games were all at R.E. St. John).
Rivers, just a junior, had all four goals in the Lady ‘Dogs’ season opening 4-0 win over Lufkin.
Kilgore lost their final two games in the tournament on Saturday, dropping one game to Texas High, 3-2, and the other to Mount Pleasant, 4-0.
ETBlitz.com announced its partnership with Whataburger on Monday, and will announce a boys player of the week award and a girls player of the week award every Tuesday, based on performances from the previous week.
Congratulations to Diego and to Phenix for their Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week Awards, and for being the first two athletes ever to win them!
Diego Rojas (9) smacks a header against Paris, as teammates Leo Yzaguirre (6) and Jorge Aleman (17, right) look on. Rojas finished with six goals in the Pine Tree Showcase Invitational tournament last weekend in Longview, and for his performance in the event, Rojas is the Whataburger/ETBlitz.com Boys Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 1-6, the first-ever boy athlete to win that honor. (Photo by DENNIS JACOBS – ETBLITZ.COM)