Mountaineers display firepower

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, April 14, 2016

VARNELL — A heated rivalry that has sometimes turned ugly was renewed on Thursday night as Coahulla Creek and North Murray met in a key Region 6-3A soccer game with playoff implications. The last time these teams met the game had to be stopped due to a brawl.

While the atmosphere was electric and the passion of the players was on display, both coaches stressed they wanted a good, clean game. What they got was an offensive shootout, with North Murray having a bit more firepower in a 5-3 victory led by a hat trick from Julio Chavez.

“I felt like we were up against the wall tonight for a lot of factors,” North Murray coach Matt Chambers said. “It was their senior night, playing on their field, and we always have that big game with them. They were ready for us. But our boys responded well. They played with their hearts and their feet, got off the wall and played a great game.”

North Murray improved to 10-1 and 7-1 in the region. The victory also marked the fifth consecutive game in this series that the road team has won. It was an important victory for the Mountaineers, who lost the fight-shortened game last season 2-1. More important to Chavez was how they played.

“The whole team played great tonight,” Chavez said. “This is a great team and we play with passion. We wanted to win this game, but we wanted to show how we win, too. We love the game and love entertaining people with our play.”

It didn’t take long for the visitors to gain the advantage as Chavez scored just five minutes into the match on an assist by Fernando Hernandez.

Coahulla Creek (8-4, 5-3) responded just two minutes later as Mario Valle scored on a corner kick by Adrian Rodriguez. From there, the Colts really seemed to grab the momentum and controlled possession. They consistently attacked with long passes over the top of the Mountaineers, but repeatedly were called for offsides.

With the Mountaineers needing a boost before the half, Manuel Palacios delivered. The area’s leading goal-scorer in 2015 got loose on the left wing and fired a shot across the goal to the right corner to give North Murray a 2-1 lead.

North Murray added another goal in the final minute of the half on a corner kick of its own. The cross hooked into the box about 10 yards in front of the goal and JD Garcia blasted a right-footed volley into the upper right corner.

“We lost a bit of possession and energy for a while in the first half, but Manny (Palacios) always gets a goal when we need it,” Chambers said. “He may not score the most goals this year, but no one scores bigger goals. Then our defender (Garcia) always wants to score, so we try to get him up there and use his size. Tonight he played great defense and was rewarded by the soccer gods with an amazing volley for a goal.”

The Colts came back with an answer just three minutes into the second half. Caleb Lewis crossed a dangerous ball into the box, but a North Murray defender was able to get just enough of it to tip it out to the top of the box where it fell to Coahulla Creek’s Martin Garcia. He put his shot to the left of the goalkeeper and cut the advantage to 3-2.

It was Chavez who put the game away. He scored in the 52nd minute with a header at the back post on a floating cross from Palacios and then outran every Colt defender to get to the ball and chip it over the goalkeeper in the 76th minute for the Mountaineers’ final goal. Lewis added a goal a minute later with his own chip over a charging keeper, but it was too late for another comeback.

Coahulla Creek coach John Linder said he had spoken with his players before the game about not duplicating last year’s altercation, but instead to just play hard and under control.

“I knew coming in both teams were thinking about what happened last year,” Linder said. “Me and coach Chambers both talked to our boys about it and I told ours, ‘Let’s make sure we just go play soccer.’ We did a good job of keeping our composure tonight. They would score and we answered a couple times. But they scored a couple more in the second half and we just couldn’t keep up.”

Chambers said he believed the Mountaineers secured at least the No. 2 spot in the region with the win, but other results with Calhoun and Sonoraville could still affect the seeding. The top two teams receive a bye in the first round of the Region 6-3A tournament, which begins Monday, and will automatically qualify for the Class 3A state tournament.

Coahulla Creek will be the fourth seed in the region tournament and will host a game Monday night.

“I told our guys we could get a chance to see them again,” Linder said. “If we win Monday night we might be facing them again on Tuesday. But it’s a new season starting now with the region tournament and then hopefully the state tournament. The records don’t matter and we are just going to take it one game at a time.”