High school boys soccer: Palestine's Tony Garcia named District 16-4A Most Valuable Player

Juwan Lee, Palestine Herald-Press, Texas
·2 min read

Apr. 30—The Palestine Wildcats cleaned up on the district superlatives with Tony Garcia highlighting the honorees as the District 16-4A Most Valuable Player.

Garcia left his legacy on the Wildcat program as one of their senior captains during their playoff run. Garcia became the second place in school history to surpass 100 career goals, joining former Wildcat Javier Leonor.

Garcia was also named to the Texas Association for Soccer Coaches All-State first team. It was Garcia's second first-team selection (2021, 2023). He joined Wildcat alumni Bennett Gierkey (2015, 2016), Chris Giron (2016, 2017, 2018), Christian Hutchinson (2018, 2019, 2020), Javier Leonor (2018, 2019) and Jonathan Sanchez (2019, 2020) as multiple-time First Teamers.

Garcia signed his national letter of intent earlier this year to play soccer at East Texas Baptist University where former Wildcat Joel Garcia currently plays.

Ty Carnes was named the Co-Forward of the Year. Carnes scored a goal and registered an assist during their state semifinal win against the Lumberton Raiders. He also had a two-goal performance against Sabine in the Bi-District championship. Carnes was also a member of TASCO's All-State first team.

Juan Lopez was named Co-Sophomore of the Year after finishing the regular season with four goals and eight assists. Lopez was a TASCO All-State honorable mention.

Tony Sanchez was the Offensive Newcomer of the Year after finishing as one of the team leaders in goals (22). He also added 24 assists during his freshman campaign. Sanchez scored a crucial goal for the Wildcats against Lumberton to help send them to the state championship.

Ricoh Avila, Mario Escalante and Andy Garcia were All-District first-teamers for the Wildcats. Kameron Carwell was the lone member of the Westwood Panthers to appear on the All-District first team.

Johnathan Trejo appeared on the second team for Westwood. Trejo was one of the Panthers' leading scorers as he finished the season with 13 goals.

Palestine's Sebastian Ledesma and Diego Oliva were second-team honorees. David Arredondo, Rolando Gallegos and Reese Garcia were their honorable mentions.