Palestine nips Jacksonville 3-2 in Region II championship match
Apr. 8—TYLER — On any given day boy's soccer teams from Jacksonville and Palestine are separated by a fine thread.
On Saturday afternoon in the Class 4A, Region II Championship, Palestine proved to be the better team by getting past the Tribe 3-2 at Christum Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium in Tyler.
The win propels the Wildcats (30-1-1) into the state tournament, which begins on Wednesday at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown.
Jacksonville, who was playing in its first regional final ever, wraps up its season with a 22-4-2 slate.
The Tribe and the Wildcats finished the regular season as District 16-4A co-champions, which each defeating the other on its home turf.
Both of Palestine's victories over the Indians were by one point.
The score was tied, 1-1, to start the second half.
That's where things stood until one of those rare and unfortunate plays occurred, and the result was a 2-1 lead for the Maroon-clad Wildcats. Tribe defender, Dylen Roberts, stationed near the mouth of the goal and in front of keeper Davy Smith put the ball in the net on an own goal as he attempted to clear the ball with an over-the-head reverse kick. The own goal came with 26:23 to play in the second half.
About 3:00 minutes later, Palestine's Ricoh Avila scored after being fouled in the box, which allowed the Wildcats to stretch their advantage to 3-1.
Jacksonville continued to battle feverishly and was able to get that point back by collecting a goal off a penalty kick by Sebastian Juarez, which came with 8:51 showing on the clock.
The Tribe's Chris Cardenas had two direct kicks in the final 1:35, one from 20 yards out and the other from 30, but neither one was able to find the twine. The second boot was blocked by a well-positioned Wildcat defensive wall.
Palestine played extremely well in the final 40:00 when the Wildcats were able to outshoot the Tribe 17-12 and come up with four corner kicks compared to Jacksonville's two.
With Palestine leading 1-0, the Tribe's Armando Lara was able to knot up the score when he reeled in a rebound and launched a laser from the left side that got past Chris Vigil, the Wildcat keeper.
Vigil made 15 saves in the match and was the winning goal keeper.
Smith made 10 saves for the Tribe to keep his team in the thick of things from start to finish.
Playing in their final match for Jacksonville were seniors Jose Escareno, Roberto Munoz, Dylen Roberts, Nathan Ramirez and Juan Cedillo.
Palestine is scheduled to lose seven seniors to graduation later this spring.
