Five Golden Tigers receive All-State boys’ soccer recognition from coaches

Four Russellville High School varsity boys’ soccer players were named to the 2024 Class 5A Coaches’ All-State team and one earned Honorable Mention recognition following the conclusion of the state tournament. Four Golden Tigers—seniors Brian Lara, Eric Jacobo, and Miguel Andres and sophomore Hailezgy Solomon—were selected to the 25-member Second Team, released on May 22, while junior Manny Martinez was picked as an Honorable Mention.

“All of these guys have stepped up and bought in and really made the program what it is,” Russellvillle head coach Trey Stanford said. “It’s a big honor to make the all-state team and I think all of these guys deserved it with the seasons they had, the performances they had this year.”

Lara and Jacobo, both forwards, co-led the team in goals scored this past season with 21 goals each. Nearly half of Russellville’s 85 goals scored came from Lara and Jacobo, who both had high-scoring individual performances and crucial game-winners. Lara finished the season with four hat-tricks against area rivals Lawrence County, East Limestone, Brewer, and at Ardmore, where he finished with four goals on the night. He also scored the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Tanner on April 13.

“Brian has an amazing shot and he can do it with both feet, with both his left and his right, and that’s hard to find. Not many guys can do that and do it with the power he has,” Stanford said. “He’s been big for us in free kicks—he took probably 90 percent of our free kicks this year—and he’s scored some big goals from those free kicks.”

“He’s got a great attitude and I think he’d do anything we’d ask him to do. He’s just a great kid, and he’s going to be a big pair of shoes to fill. He’s really meant a lot to our program,” Stanford added.

Jacobo had three hat-tricks on the year—two came against Ardmore and the other against East Limestone. Jacobo’s best performance was against Ardmore on Feb. 29 when he scored five of the team’s 10 goals in a span of ten minutes. He also scored the winning goal in the Golden Tigers’ 2-1 road win over West Morgan on March 12.

“Last year Eric Jacobo didn’t have quite the year that I think he thought he should’ve had, and this past summer going into his senior year he really put in the work to be better and transform his body,” Stanford said. “All that work really paid off this year. He had 21 goals, tied with Brian for the most on the team. He doubled his goal output and had some really special moments, some really great matches.”

“Eric is the type of kid that you want to coach. He comes to work and he never gripes, never complains. He’s never too high and he’s never too low,” Stanford added. “He had a great senior year, and he deserved it with all the work he put in. I’m really proud of him.”

Hailezgy Solomon was another of Russellville’s top scorers this season, coming in third on the team, not far behind Lara and Jacobo, with 18 goals. Solomon, a midfielder, was also one of the team’s top assist men. He had multiple two-goal matches this season, and he scored the game-winning goal in Russellville’s 3-2 first round playoff win over Boaz, finishing on a wonderful individual effort in the 75th minute to send the Golden Tigers into the next round.

“Hailezgy is one of those guys that I think is going to be an absolute superstar for us the next couple years, and you can see why with the year he had this year,” Stanford said. “He’s a young guy—he was just a tenth grader this year—and he’s not very seasoned yet and still learning, but he’s very talented.”

“He’s got top-notch speed, and there hasn’t really been anyone that’s been able to run with him, even when he’s dribbling. A lot of guys are fast, but there’s not many who are as fast as him with the ball. That’s a skill that’s hard to find,” Stanford added. “I’m really excited to see what he can do for us in the future, especially next year with all the guys we’ve got coming back.”

Rounding out the team for the Golden Tigers was senior goalkeeper Miguel Andres. Andres kept seven clean sheets in 2024 and played a massive role in Russellvillle’s plus-62 goal differential, only allowing 23 shots past him in 22 matches this season. Andres only gave us six goals against area opponents and kept clean sheets in six of those. He finished the year with 57 saves.

“You’ve got to be a pretty good keeper to play at Russellville, and Miguel Andres had to wait for his time to play, but the last two years he’s been phenomenal for us,” Stanford said. “When we played Mountain Brook he had some outstanding saves against them. He had some outstanding saves against Grissom. Against big teams and in big time matches, he always stepped up and had great games. I honestly can’t recall a single bad game or a game where he didn’t play well.”

“He deserves all-state, 100 percent, and I think unfortunately he just fell victim to the numbers game that he wasn’t on the first team,” Stanford added. “As well as he played this year, it’s hard for me to believe that there are many, if any, better keepers than him out there.”

Russellville’s lone Honorable Mention was forward Manny Martinez, who scored nine goals during the campaign despite battling injuries for much of the year. Described by Stanford as “one of the best pure finishers” the coach has had play for him, Martinez scored the Golden Tigers’ first goal of the season in Russellville’s opener against Mars Hill. His best performance of the season came against Lawrence County on March 21 when he scored his lone hat-trick of the season.

“If Manny wasn’t injured this year then he’s probably on the first team instead of an honorable mention. Unfortunately he had an ankle injury early in the season against Florence and just could never get it quite right the rest of the year,” Stanford said. “Whenever he was healthy enough to play, he always made an impact, and I think he scored in just about every game he could play in. I would’ve loved to have seen what he could’ve done if he could’ve played a full season.”

Martinez was also honored with an invite to play in the North/South All-Star Game later this summer.

“I think that shows the respect that people have for the player that he is. It’ll be interesting to see how he plays with those guys and how they’ll all play together,” Stanford said. 

Lara, Jacobo, Solomon, Andres, and Martinez all played key roles in a campaign that saw the Golden Tigers, who finished 16-5-1, win their area for the fourth consecutive season and advance to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs for the second straight year.

“We had a great season, and obviously these guys were huge contributors to the success that we had,” Stanford said. “We had a young team this year, and the three seniors—Brian, Jacobo, Miguel—they were big for us as leaders and in showing some of the younger players how we do things in our program. That leadership was extremely important.”

“I’m really proud of these guys for what they did this year, and I’m glad they got the recognition that they deserve,” he added.