By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Another game, another achievement for the St. Joseph Academy soccer team.
The Bloodhounds (16-3-2) are advancing to the TAPPS state semifinals for the first time, thanks to Saturday’s 1-0 triumph over the Dallas Bishop Lynch Friars (15-5) at San Antonio Central Catholic’s Bob Benson Field.
SJA, which earlier this month won a district championship trophy in soccer for the first time, next plays Houston Awty International, a victor over Tomball Concordia Lutheran on Saturday in another quarterfinal. In the TAPPS playoffs, the Bloodhounds are the top-seeded team from the San Antonio-area district, and the Awty Rams are the No. 1 seed from the Houston-area district.
SJA will play Awty on Tuesday at a neutral site, probably somewhere in the Coastal Bend area. The TAPPS state final will be played Saturday in Waco .
The Bloodhounds had never won more than one game in the TAPPS soccer playoffs until Saturday. They were coming off Tuesday’s 2-1 victory at home against Dallas Bishop Dunne during the opening round of the postseason.
“It’s a huge win for us,” SJA coach Tino Villarreal said after Saturday’s victory over the Friars, who have ousted the Bloodhounds from the playoffs in previous years. “This puts us in the semifinals for the first time. We’re pretty excited, but we don’t have too much time to celebrate because we play again Tuesday.”
While SJA’s Gerardo Moses, a junior forward, scored the only goal of the match during the 63rd minute, it may have been sophomore goalkeeper Mario Ramirez who was the Bloodhounds’ hero of the day against the Friars.
Saturday’s game had barely started when the Bloodhounds were whistled for knocking down a Bishop Lynch player inside the 18-yard box during the eighth minute. Ramirez blocked the ensuing penalty kick to give his team an incredible emotional lift, Villarreal said.
“When Mario stopped that penalty kick, we knew it would give us a big boost,” Villarreal said. “As the game went on, we grew and grew (in momentum) while Bishop Lynch became more and more frustrated.”
After it was scoreless at halftime, the match turned in the Bloodhounds’ favor during the 63rd minute when sophomore attacking midfielder Jose Kauache sent a through pass to Moses, who found himself in a 1-on-1 situation with the Friars goalkeeper.
Moses fired a shot from about 15 yards out that found the mark just inside the right post, providing SJA with the only goal it needed.
When asked last week about his team’s progress throughout the season, Villarreal said, “I thought we began with a shotgun start (back in November), and then we kind of lost a little bit of steam over the holidays. We changed up a couple of things, including how we approach practice, and now, I see us climbing again.
“I think we’re peaking at the right time, and hopefully we’re able to play our best when it counts the most.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @ HessRgehess .