By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
The Sharyland High Rattlers are moving on in the Class 5A soccer playoffs.
All the Rattlers needed was one goal, yet they added a pair of late scores to defeat Pace 3-0 on Friday during the Class 5A bi-district playoff at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The District 31-5A champion Rattlers (22-5-3) advance to next week’s area playoffs to face Corpus Christi Flour Bluff or Victoria East.
Pace, the fourth-place team from District 32-5A, ended its season at 15-8-1.
Sharyland High led 1-0 for most of the match after Alonso Gonzales scored on a header during the 18th minute. The ball was volleyed around in the goalmouth before it came to Gonzales, whose header put his team ahead for good.
The Rattlers added two goals during the final five and a half minutes to win rather decisively.
“Our team played with a very good attitude tonight,” Rattlers coach Reveriano Hernandez said. “They played their hearts out and never gave up.
“Pace left everything on the field,” Hernandez added. “They gave us a hell of a game. Up until the end it was 1-0, so it could have been anybody’s game.”
Jorge Morales sent a rocket of a shot into the right corner of the net to make it 2-0 for the Rattlers with a little more than five minutes left.
Gonzales scored into an open goal from the left side with just less than one minute remaining to make it 3-0 after the Pace goalkeeper came out and was caught out of position. Gonzales put a move on the goalkeeper, dribbled around him and found himself with an uncontested look at the goal. He converted his chance from relatively close range, and that’s when the victory celebration for Sharyland High began.
The Rattlers had a previous chance at an open goal with 12 1/2 minutes to go, but a shot from the left side went into the outside of the net and, at that point, the score stayed 1-0.
Pace coach Mario A. Zamora was grateful for everything his Vikings did for the team this season.
“I am very proud of my guys for their effort throughout this game and the entire season,” Zamora said. “They fought hard tonight, since the first minute until the end, but it was not enough to defeat a great team like Sharyland High.”