San Elizario boys soccer team advances to Region 1-4A Tournament
The San Elizario boys soccer team continued its postseason success on Friday night in the Class 4A regional quarterfinals.
Behind goals from Darey Garcia and Alan Jurado, the Eagles advanced to their fourth regional tournament in the past five seasons with a 2-0 win against Riverside at Del Valle High School.
"I'm proud of our kids," San Elizario coach Max Sappenfield said. "This group won two playoff games two years ago, three playoff games last year and this year our goal is to go farther. We had to battle for this win. We've been doing some good things all season long and it's nice to be going back to the regional tournament."
Garcia scored the first goal in the first half and Jurado added the second goal in the second half.
"Darey is a great player and he's getting better all the time," Jurado said. "It was a big win for us, our goal is to win a state title."
The Eagles own three state championships, the last one coming in 2019. San Elizario's win was the third against the Rangers this season, the other two coming in District 1-4A play. The Eagles won 3-2 and 1-0 in the previous two matches between the two teams. San Elizario won the district and Riverside finished fourth.
San Elizario will play in the Region I-4A semifinals on Friday in Justin, Texas, at Northwest ISD Stadium.
"We just need to get rested up and get healthy for next week," Sappenfield said. "It was a great atmosphere in this match against Riverside. We respect them as a team. We just need to keep working hard and improve on some things."
Friday's other games
In Midland, Bel Air moved onto the Region I-5A Tournament with a 5-0 with an against Abilene High. Rodolfo Gonzalez and Ruben Esparza led the way for the Highlanders with two goals each. Bel Air has outscored opponents, 13-1, in the playoffs. Bel Air heads to Wichita Falls and will play Friday in the regional semifinals.
"It went well against Abilene High," Bel Air coach Sergio Delgado said. "Our win against Amarillo Caprock taught us so much and we used that to our advantage. Our team is still young in terms of playoff experience. The last 30 minutes of the game, we played six freshmen and three sophomores and they did a great job."
In Midland, Irvin is headed to the Region I-4A Boys Tournament along with San Elizario after a 2-1 win against Wichita Falls High. After a 0-0 tie after the first 40 minutes, the Coyotes went ahead 1-0 on Irvin but the Rockets answered with goals from Omar Escobedo and Diego Esquivel to earn the win.
"It was an evenly matched game in the first half and after they took the lead, we began to take over, we got lots of good shots and took control of possession," Rockets coach Francisco Mejia. "It was a great win for us, I'm really proud of our kids."
For the third straight year, Eastlake is moving on to the Region I-6A Tournament in McKinney after a 3-1 win against Euless Trinity in Lubbock. The Falcons never trailed and got goals from Michael Ayala, Julian Aleman and Gustavo Muela.
In the Class 4A regional quarterfinals in Midland, the San Elizario girls defeated Canyon Randall, 2-1. America Barrera scored the winning goal for the Eagles, who are headed to their fourth regional tournament since 2019. Judith Hernandez scored the other goal for San Elizario. The girls regional tournament is also in Justin.
"It was a great win for us," Barrera said. "I really feel this team can go even further. We hung tough and made plays when we needed to."
More: Soccer news Eight El Paso high school soccer teams to play in regional quarterfinals
Felix F. Chavez can be reached at fchavez@elpasotimes.com; @Fchavezeptimes on Twitter
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: San Elizario boys soccer team advances to regional tournament
