By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
PROGRESO — Progreso goalkeeper Fernando Ramirez made the play of the game Saturday to lift the Red Ants to the championship of the 3rd annual Progreso Soccer Tournament at Red Ant Stadium.
The title match of the two-day, eight-team event was played between the host team and St. Joseph Academy. Progreso was the tournament’s defending champion.
With his team ahead 5-4 in penalty kicks following 80 minutes of scoreless action through regulation, Ramirez blocked the attempt of SJA’s Gerardo Moses, clinching the victory. It was the only try that was stopped by either team’s goalkeeper during the 10-man alternating rotation of PKs.
Officially, the result goes down as a 1-0 triumph for the Red Ants, who are the defending champions of District 32-4A. No overtime periods were played in the tournament final.
“I have no words to describe this win, but I want to thank Fernando, my goalie,” said Juan Puentes, a captain for the Red Ants who scored his squad’s first penalty kick. “I just want to congratulate my teammates. They did an awesome job.”
Progreso coach Margarito Jimenez expected the final to be a difficult match against the Bloodhounds, who have most of their players back from the team that went 16-4-2 last season and reached the TAPPS state semifinals.
“We knew St. Joe was going to be a tough opponent, and we knew we had to give them everything we had,” Jimenez said. “Thank God we came out on top.”
Regarding Ramirez, the Progreso coach said, “Fernando is a senior. He works hard and he’s there every day (at practice) doing his job, and today he’s the hero.”
Converting PK attempts for the Red Ants were Puentes, Rogelio Zamora, Cristian Chavez, Chris Rojas and Fernando Blanco. Making their PKs for the Bloodhounds were Jose Kauachi, Luis Amaro, Gerardo Elizondo and Andres Rico.
SJA coach Tino Villarreal said he was glad his team had an opportunity to play in the tournament, even though it was tough to suffer a defeat in PKs.
“We want to be in games like this,” Villarreal said. “I told our players (after it was over) that when you go to penalty kicks, it’s going to be a coin flip (as to who wins).
“We want to play in games like this that challenge us and put us in tough situations, because in a non-district game like this one, you grow from it, win or lose,” Villarreal added. “You walk away from these types of games with something positive that you can take into your district and hopefully into the playoffs.”
To reach the championship match, SJA defeated Grulla 6-1 on Friday in the semifinals. The Red Ants advanced with Friday’s 2-1 semifinal win against IDEA Frontier.