BOYS SOCCER COMPLETES FURIOUS COMEBACK TO REACH REGIONAL TOURNAMENT
The Class 4A #8 Palestine Wildcats (25-4-0) fought their way back from the edge Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory against the Chapel Hill Bulldogs in the Regional Quarterfinal.
The Bulldogs came out firing with both barrels and capitalized on Wildcat mistakes to take an early 2-0 lead. Their first goal was a restart right outside the box after a Wildcat foul 14 minutes into the game. The second goal came two minutes later, when a ball glanced off a Palestine defender onto the feet of a Bulldogs player who slammed it into the goal. The āCats were stunned but not dismayed. Four minutes later, Tony Sanchez took a cross from Mario Escalante, cut the lead in half and started the momentum heading back Palestineās direction.
The second half belonged to the Wildcats. Seven minutes into the second half, finding the ball at his feet after the Bulldog keeper deflected a Rolando Gallegos blast, Sanchez struck again, knotting the score at 2-2. In a shrewd coaching move, Coach Absalom subbed Cash Hernandez in during a stoppage of play for injury with about nine minutes left and Hernandez immediately uncorked one of his patented deep throw-ins that found Sanchez, who converted a scissor-kick to take the lead, 3-2, getting him his first playoff hat trick.
The Bulldogs attempted a furious comeback to tie the game and send it to overtime but Wildcats locked in and held their ground as the final seconds ticked off the clock sending Palestine to their 8th Regional Semifinal.
A huge shoutout to all the Wildcat Fans who travelled to Tyler for the game, we definitely were able to use your energy as fuel for the comeback. You showed up and showed up big!
Palestine will face Frisco Panther Creek in the Regional Semifinals. The tournament will be at Tyler Rose Stadium this Friday and Saturday. Friday, the Wildcats will compete in the second semifinal at around 1:30pm following the Dallas Hutchins-Kilgore boys.