Golden Tigers beat Mars Hill and Tanner by 2-1 score lines
A pair of matches against non-area opponents capped the Russellville High School varsity boys’ soccer team’s week last week as the Golden Tigers downed Mars Hills and Tanner, both by a score of 2-1.
After a 10-2 drubbing of area opponent East Limestone earlier in the week, Russellville (12-3-1) traveled to Florence to face Mars Hill for the second time this season on April 11. The Golden Tigers, ranked No. 6 in Class 5A according to the Alabama Sports Writers Association, opened this year’s campaign with a 2-0 victory over the Panthers on Feb. 13.
“Mars Hill has gotten quite a bit better as the year has gone on,” Russellville head coach Trey Stanford said. “They have a great goalkeeper, and he’s one of the better keepers that I’ve seen. He had a lot of saves against us.”
The Golden Tigers scored a goal in each half. Erik Jacobo, one of the squad’s top goalscorers, found the back of the net in the first half, while Isais Jose, who has been a major contributor with assists this season, bagged Russellville’s second goal in the final 40 minutes.
The Panthers pulled one back to make it 2-1 midway through the second half. After going up 2-0 Stanford said he made a tactical change, pulling off an attacking player and substituting on an extra defender.
“We went from three in the back to a back four. I don’t know what happened, but it was the first time in my career I’ve added a defensive player and we played worse on defense,” Stanford said with a laugh. “They ended up scoring their goal right after we went to a 4-4-2.”
“I don’t know if they were thinking someone else was going to pick up the (attacking player) because there was another guy in or what,” he added. “That’s a mentality thing. You know we’re still a pretty young team. As kids mature and get older they understand the importance of playing every minute of every match.”
Mars Hill had other opportunities to equalize in the second half, including a shot that hit the crossbar, but the Golden Tigers held on to win at the final whistle.
“It absolutely could’ve ended 2-2,” Stanford said. “It was a hard-fought match, but a good win for our kids. It’s good for us to play matches like that because we’re getting closer to the playoffs, and you’re going to be in some pretty sticky situations come playoff time.”
In its next game Russellville returned home to Golden Tigers Stadium on Saturday, April 13 to battle Tanner, the reigning 1A-3A state champions.
“Tanner is an extremely talented team, and they’ve got one of the best strikers in the state,” Stanford said. “We knew going in we were going to have to play really well defensively. We knew it was going to be a tough match, and it was. They came ready to play.”
The two sides fought to a scoreless stalemate at halftime. The Golden Tigers did not play up to standard in the first half, Stanford said, and it took the players a half to find a foothold in the game. Not accustomed to playing on Saturday, Stanford said it had an effect on the players.
“We don’t play many Saturday games, and I know that’s an excuse, but I do think that had a part in the match,” he said. “A lot of our kids work on Saturdays and a lot of them worked Saturday before we played that match, so I think some of them came in a little tired, you know?”
“The first half we played okay, but we didn’t play up to our capability. In the second half we came out and looked like a million bucks. We made a little change in the formation in the midfield, and I felt like we controlled the rest of the match,” he added.
Russellville scored both of its goals in the second half. Defender Richard Scott headed in a ball off a corner kick to make it 1-0 before Brian Lara, from around 30 yards out, smashed in his free kick around the Tanner wall.
“The second goal was an absolute banger,” Stanford said. “(Tanner) set their wall slightly too far to the left, and all the coaches on the sideline—me, Fred, Gabby—we were all hollering, ‘Look right, look right, look right!’ Brian understood what we were saying and he curved it right around the right side of the wall and into the bottom corner of the goal. It was a great goal.”
Just like Mars Hill, Tanner was eventually able to claw one back, but it came very late with just a few minutes left. In the end, the Golden Tigers were once again able to hold on to the 2-1 scoreline.
“We would’ve loved to have finished it out 2-0—that sounds sweeter than 2-1, but we knew it’d be a tough one,” Stanford said. “Coach (Matt) Smith does a great job at Tanner. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re winning state championships then you’re doing something right. His kids play hard for him and they care about winning, so it’s a great program. It was a great, great match for us to play against them and come out with a win.”
As the regular season approaches its conclusion, the Golden Tigers still have a few more area matches to play in a bid to win a fourth consecutive area title. It will be a thick and fast slate of games. Russellville will travel to East Limestone for its next match on April 19 before facing Brewer on April 20 and Ardmore on April 22.
“East Limestone will be a tough match. They’re a lot better team than the score shows from the last time we played them,” Stanford said. “The next day we’ve got to turn around and play a really tough Brewer team and both of those games are on the road, so it’s going to be a challenge.”
“With the way the games between the other teams have played out it’s kind of a mess (in the standings) and I don’t want us to be anywhere near that mess,” Stanford said. “We obviously want to win the area, that’s our goal. We’re undefeated in the area right now, and we’re going to try to do our best to keep it that way.”