By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio just ran out of time.
Down 2-0 with less than two minutes left to play in their Class 6A, Region IV Quarterfinal match, the Rams’ Esteban Sauceda scored off a perfect cross from Robert Garcia to cut Laredo Alexander’s lead in half.
But the Rams could get no closer and for the second consecutive year it was the Laredo Alexander Bulldogs, a fellow District 30-6A team, which ended the Rams’ season in the state quarterfinals, this time by a score of 2-1.
Friday night’s match at historic Alamo Stadium was the rubber match between the two teams. They’d split their district matches, with each team winning at home.
Del Rio had won the most recent meeting between the two teams prior to Friday night, a 1-0 thriller, but the player who scored that goal, Alfain Peñaloza, was forced to sit out the playoff meeting due to receiving a red card in the Rams’ Area round win.
Del Rio Rams head soccer coach Tani Canchola said Peñaloza’s absence made a big difference in terms of planning and executing.
“The team was turning things around this season. We just missed our number 10 tonight,” Canchola said Friday night. “We would have had different strengths during the attack.”
Alexander struck for its first goal off a corner kick about 15 minutes into the match. The Bulldogs found the net again about 10 minutes into the second half to build a 2-0 advantage.
Del Rio was able to put together a successful attack late in the match as Garcia worked his way down the right side of the field. As Alexander’s defenders converged, he zipped a pass to his left and to a waiting Sauceda who banged the shot into the left side of the goal with about 1:13 left to play.
“It just came too late to give us time to equalize,” Canchola said.
This marked the second straight year that the Rams reached the third round of the boys soccer playoffs. Last year was the first time the program had ever reached that mark, so a return this year showed that it wasn’t a fluke.
Del Rio will lose eight players to graduation including stellar goalkeeper Julian Rivera, standout defender Roberto Garza, Demian Fernandez, who scored in Del Rio’s Area round win; and Robert Garcia, who was one of the team’s leaders in assists.
They’ll return Peñaloza, Ely Losoya, freshman Sauceda and Hector Trujillo among others. With that group, a return to the quarterfinals next season isn’t out of the realm of possibility. But for now, the Rams will reflect on this season before thinking about 2023.
“Our new goal is to make it to the fourth round. We were close to that goal this year. Now, we’ll look to next year once we get all the emotions from this year out,” Canchola said.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
