The Russellville High School varsity boys’ soccer team was eliminated from the AHSAA 5A playoffs last Friday after suffering a 2-1 overtime defeat at Guntersville.
The loss in the quarterfinal round came after a thrilling 3-2 home win over Boaz in the opening round the previous Tuesday.
“It didn’t go how we wanted it to or how we planned it on going,” Russellville head coach Trey Stanford said after the Boaz loss. “I felt like we dominated in every aspect of the game. We out-shot, out-possessed, outplayed them—everything we were supposed to do we did, and our guys did everything they were supposed to do. For whatever reason, you know, it just didn’t turn out how we think it should’ve turned out.”
Russellville’s week ended with the disappointment of defeat, but it started in the jubilation of victory. The Golden Tigers hosted Boaz, ranked No. 3 in the final coaches’ poll of the season, in the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday, April 30, overcoming the Pirates with a late game-winning goal in normal time.
“Hats off to Boaz…second year in a row they come to our place they absolutely play their tail off,” Stanford said. “It’s such a battle, such a battle…(Boaz) had good shots, they had good chances, they played probably better than we did in the first half, for sure.”
It required a comeback and a steely defensive effort for the Golden Tigers to finally dispatch the Pirates in the end. After opening the scoring in the eighth minute on a corner kick headed in by defender Richard Scott, Russellville fell behind 2-1 going into the halftime break. Boaz quickly responded to the hosts’ opening salvo, firing in the equalizer two minutes later. The visitors then took the lead thanks to a set piece goal by Jose Arreguin.
“At halftime we challenged them. I said, ‘Look. It’s up to you, boys. It can be over now or we can come out and play like you’re capable and good things can happen,’” Stanford said. “I was proud of them for answering the way they did in the second half.”
It didn’t take long for the Golden Tigers to level it going into the final 40 minutes of play. Just six minutes after the restart, Manny Martinez leveled it 2-2 and tilted the momentum in the end-to-end game in Russellville’s favor.
Even with that swing in momentum, though, there were still a few frightful moments for the Golden Tigers. The biggest of these came in the 60th minute when, with Russellville’s defense scrambling back and goalkeeper Miguel Andres coming out to make an attempt on the ball, a Boaz attacking player put a rolling shot on target. Hustling back, Isais Jose, known as “Chuck” to his teammates and coaches, in front of an open net was able to clear the ball off his own goal line to keep the score square.
“Hustle: We preach it every day,” Stanford said. “Positivity plus intensity equals success. That’s our slogan and I’ve had it since I got here…and that’s what we’re talking about. It doesn’t matter what’s going on, doesn’t matter how bad things are, how good things are. None of that matters. What matters is if you’re going to play as hard as you can for a full 80 minutes, and getting back to clear that ball off the line, that’s a guy putting his body on the line for his teammates.”
“That’s a sophomore putting his body on the line. That’s outstanding effort by him and just a great play,” he added.
From the equalizing goal the match seemed to teeter on a knife’s edge. Already open and fast-paced, both sides looked to pick it up a notch. However, towards the end of the game, Stanford said, the Golden Tigers’ substitution strategy and depth appeared to be paying off.
“It was a hot day and it was probably one of the hottest days we’ve had to play in. We tried to sub our wingers and our strikers every 20 minutes,” Stanford said. “Honestly, I think playing in that heat hurt Boaz who I don’t think had the same depth as us.”
All tied up, as the game crept closer and closer to the end of regulation, the tension was thick. As sometimes happens in the game, a moment of near joy for one team can quickly be turned into rapture for the other.
In the 75th minute, Boaz, with its speed, appeared to be in on goal but the Golden Tigers were able to get back and put in multiple challenges to avert the danger. All of the Pirates’ players piled forward, the last of these Russellville clearances found Hailezgy Tekle around midfield. The sophomore, one of the Golden Tigers’ best finishers, in a flash of great individual brilliance, dribbled past the two remaining defenders in his way and, with his coach’s shouts of “shoot!” audible across the stadium, cooly slotted the go-ahead goal home past the goalkeeper.
“Sometimes he doesn’t shoot when he should be shooting,” Stanford said. “He’s a good player. He makes things happen when he’s supposed to, and he’s just a good guy. He plays hard. He’s still learning that right wing position a little bit…but when we get him figuring it out, he can be really, really deadly for us.”
With the go-ahead goal and just under five minutes to play, all that was left for the Golden Tigers to do was defend and bleed clock, which the hosts did effectively, advancing to the quarterfinals of the state tournament for the fourth consecutive season.
Thankful for the win, Stanford also voiced his gratitude for the support the Golden Tigers received during the game.
“What an atmosphere,” he said. “I’m very grateful. It’s the best program in the state…You’ll never prove me any different.”
“Just a great atmosphere. The community, they love it, we love it, we love them.”
Russellville’s next match proved less loveable from the Golden Tiger coach’s point of view. Traveling to play Guntersvillle in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, Stanford and the Golden Tigers felt hard done by officiating decisions made in a match he felt his team dominated.
“I’ve never said anything or hardly anything about the referees…but this is the second year in a row now at Guntersville that multiple situations should’ve been called and didn’t get called,” Stanford said. “It’s been two years, back-to-back years, to get calls that really affected us and affected the game and the outcome of the game or to not get calls that changed the outcome of the game.”
Russellville took the opening lead in the first half with a goal scored by Richard Scott off a free kick. It was Scott’s third straight game with a goal.
“(Scott) does a great job for us on corners and free kicks. He does a really good job at going up and heading the ball. He’s good at fighting for the ball in the pile, is what he’s good at,” Stanford said. “It was a pretty cool goal. He’s had a great year for us, and he’s played well. If he keeps working and keeps getting better and playing with these guys throughout the summer, I think we’ve got a shot at being really good next year and him having a good senior year.”
The Golden Tigers took the 1-0 lead into halftime, but the Wildcats were able to equalize in the second half to make it 1-1.
“We made a mistake and let them score off a free kick in the second half,” Stanford said. “It was a good kick. It was lobbed up, hit a heel and bounced into the back corner on the opposite side. So, just a bad luck situation for our kids really.”
Now tied at 1-1, Stanford felt there were two major incidents of officiating that changed the course of the game: one that could have potentially sealed the win for the Golden Tigers, the other a call that cost them the game.
The first was a challenge on Manny Martinez in the box which, if called, would have awarded Russellville a penalty kick.
“It was a foul, clearly. (The defender) slid through Manny in about the middle of the box. Manny’s about the score and the kid slides through Manny, completely through his legs,” Stanford explained. The referee, evidently, in the back of his mind felt he needed to make sure it wasn’t a foul because he stopped the entire game and talked to two different referees about it…and then they ended up not giving us the (penalty kick), which to me that’s unacceptable.”
Play resumed after the decision to not award a penalty, and Russellville and Guntersville took the game into overtime with the score tied 1-1. It was in the overtime period when Stanford said the second, and more consequential, error was made: A Guntersville goal that wasn’t ruled out for offside.
“The guy is so far offside, it’s not even funny,” Stanford said. “It was a clear, clear offside. The Guntersville kid didn’t do anything wrong. He did what he was supposed to do and go score, you know? So props to him.”
“You could tell that everybody knew it was offside. Everybody saw it was offside but the line judge,” he added. “I don’t know who he was looking at, but unfortunately when you play a sport…there’s going to be human error and mistakes made.”
The Guntersville goal in overtime was the winner and the Wildcats eliminated the Golden Tigers in the quarterfinals for the second straight year.
“Last year I’m not going to say that we were better than we were better than them because, honestly, they played probably better than we did,” Stanford said. “This year, they absolutely did not play better than us. I think, 100 percent, we outplayed them in every aspect.”
“(The players) did everything we asked them to do, and unfortunately it’s human error that is the reason for them to lose. That’s heartbreaking for the kids, but what I wanted these guys to understand is that sometimes you’re going to have to overcome some adversity which isn’t always the easiest thing,” he added.
Russellville ends its season with a 16-5-1 record. This season over, Stanford said there’s nothing to do but to remember the lessons of this season, learn from it, and start preparing for the next campaign.
“I hate it ended like it did for these seniors that worked so hard to get back to Huntsville and deserved to get back to Huntsville. I hated it for them, but they’re good young men and they’ll be just fine. They’re hard-nosed mentally and they’re tough and they understand you’re not always going to get the correct calls in life,” Stanford said. “We’ve had a great year and I’m proud of our guys.”
“We’ve got a lot of kids coming back next year,” he added. “We’ve got a lot coming back in our starting 11, and we’ve got guys in our junior varsity group that went 9-1-1 this year that are extremely good soccer players.”
“We’ve got a bright future and I think these guys are so close and on the verge of breaking through. We just have to keep going and eventually it’s going to happen. It’s going to be a special moment when it finally happens.”
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