CSAS slide tackle.
photo by Greg Davick
Even though the scoreboard showed a scoreless tie, Hixson soccer coach Jeff Dean still felt extremely confident as his team headed onto the field for the second half of Tuesday’s Region 3-A/AA semifinal match.
The Wildcats didn’t disappoint.
The District 6 champions had struggled to finish their scoring opportunities in the first half of the elimination match against 5-A/AA runner-up Arts & Sciences, but that wasn’t the case over the final 40 minutes.
Hixson struck early and often in the second period and finished with a 4-1 victory that puts the Wildcats in Thursday’s region championship match against Boyd-Buchanan, which advanced with a 4-0 win over Howard in its semifinal.
“I was confident,” Dean said. “I saw a team in the first half that we didn’t have the last time we played them. They were focused tonight, and that’s something we’ve had trouble with all year. We’ve won a lot of games, but we’ve won a lot of games by one goal. But tonight, they were ready. I could see the focus in their eyes. Going into the second half, it felt good watching them go out there. I told my assistant coach, I think we’ve got it.”
Arts & Sciences won the teams’ regular season meeting by a 3-1 margin, and Dean said his team was determined to pressure the Patriots more during the rematch. The Wildcats did just that in the first half, but couldn’t manage to finish any of the many chances they created.
Then, less than two minutes into the second half, Hixson broke through when Cameron Rigler finished a ball from Spencer Groves to put the Wildcats up 1-0.
“With the way they beat us during the regular season, that goal was huge,” Dean said. “A team like CSAS is going to score; you’ve just got to outscore them, and we did tonight. That was the main thing coming into this game. Last time, we didn’t pressure them, and they jumped on us with the first goal and then we had to sit back and play defense.”
The Patriots, who were playing without several of their regular starters on Tuesday, did respond with an equalizer seven minutes later, and sent a potential go-ahead goal off the frame with just under 28 minutes left to play.
“We were sluggish,” CSAS coach David Poss said. “We didn’t come out in sync. We were just down too many players, and they were able to capitalize because they’re a strong, fast, physical team. It could’ve been a lot worse because they had so many shots in the first half. We thought we would get it going, but we never did.”
The Hixson defense held on through the CSAS offensive spurt, and with 18:56 on the clock, Elias Garcia sent a ball to Vacente Guerrero, who finished to give his team a 2-1 advantage. After taking the lead, the Wildcats kept up their pressure, which paid off when they were awarded a penalty kick with 10:38 left to play and Groves stepped in to nail the shot.
“He’s a phenomenal player,” Dean said. “I don’t know how he gets those calls sometimes, but he’s just a workhorse. He can really frustrate a defense.”
Juan Nunez added the match's fourth goal right at the two minute mark, sending the Hixson crowd into celebration mode. With the win, the Wildcats improve to 17-3 and will play in the region final for the first time in at least five years. The loss ends the Patriots’ season at 8-9.
“I told the guys that I’m always proud to be on the field with them,” Poss said. “To me, it’s a special school, and a special group of guys. I told them this is going to stick with them for a while, but eventually what they’re going to remember is that this is a fun game that they love playing.”
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)