By Brian Argabright
Del Rio has high hopes as they enter the boys soccer playoffs.
The Rams, which earned a share of the District 30-6A championship but is the number two seed due to losing head-to-head against fellow co-champs Laredo United, takes on the San Antonio Stevens Falcons tonight in the first round of the Class 6A, Region IV playoffs at Gustafson Stadium in San Antonio.
Del Rio is riding a six-match winning streak that not only closed out the season, but also propelled the team from third place to a share of first place. Included in that run were four wins in five days in the final week of the regular season. That odd schedule was due to the team’s delay in the start of district play because of the San Felipe Del Rio CISD’s suspension of UIL activities out of precaution from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Del Rio’s strength comes from its abundance of scorers. The Rams aren’t a one-man show, but rather gets goals from a variety of players. Angel Aldrete is the team leader in assists and one of the team’s leaders in goals, but the former all-district midfielder of the year has received a lot of help when it comes to the Rams’ attack.
Emmanuel “Manny” Vela, Felipe Estrada and Ely Losoya are just some of the Rams who have found the net thus far this season. They all had goals in Del Rio’s 7-1 win over Eagle Pass that clinched a share of the district championship.
On the defensive side of the ball, Rams head coach Tani Canchola has seen Noe Trujillo and Christian Perez step up and lead the way as Del Rio allowed just three goals over their its final four matches.
The Falcons, the number three seed out of District 29-6A, didn’t have the same success towards the end of their regular season.
Stevens beat Holmes, 3-1, in the regular season finale, but that win ended a three-match winless streak, which saw the Falcons lose once and draw twice. They finished district play with eight wins, six losses and two draws. On the season, the Falcons were 11-11-2.
Stevens doesn’t strike for big numbers in their matches. Only three times during the season did they score four goals or more. Their best output was a 9-1 shellacking of East Central as part of the Northeast/Northside Showcase early in the season. The last time they scored at least four goals was March 1 when they beat Marshall, 4-3.
Tonight’s match is set to start at 6 p.m. The winner of tonight’s match will advance to face either Juarez-Lincoln or Donna North in the Area round of the playoffs.
