We opened up our first day of our simulated tournament with eight matches from 6A boys high school teams around the San Antonio area. A couple of upsets and exciting matches mark day one of the tournament. Let’s recap the matches.
16. SA Madison (11-11-1) v 1. SA Lee (17-0-1)
First match up of the day saw two 27-6A district rivals meet head to head. Madison and LEE had met twice this season with LEE coming out on top both times with a 3-1 and 6-0 wins. In our sim match, Madison scored first had held there own for must of the first half. Madison’s Senior Midfielder Eddie Cortez scored a banger from outside the penalty box in the 17th minute and led until Wil Aguilar scored in the 31st minute on a soft touch just past the Madison keeper from 6 yards out with the assist from Francisco Segura. Both teams went into the half tied at 1-1.
Second half started strong for Madison as they almost scored just mere seconds into the second half, LEE kicked off and one the second pass was ball was intercepted by Madison’s Mikey Brune and made a run towards goal, Brune took a shot and hit the cross bar, narrowly missing a game changing goal.
LEE was able to make adjustments and took control of the match after with Henry Bowland scoring back to back goals in the 50th and 55th minute. LEE closed out the scoring when Hugo Cerros converted a penalty in the 77th minute.
Final : SA Madison 1 – SA LEE 4
9. SA Reagan (8-6-7) v 8. New Braunfels (10-6-3)
Our first match between two schools from different cities. SA Reagan Rattlers faced the New Braunfels Unicorns in a hill country battle. It was a see-saw game as Reagan struck first with a goal from Sophomore Midfielder Christian Hernandez in the 21st minute, just two minutes later New Braunfels scored the equalizer on a corner when Dylan Navajiro scored on a header. The Rattlers took a 2-1 lead just before the half on a goal from Emiliano Alcantara assisted by Christian Hernandez.
Most of the second half was a match locked in the midfield as both defense stepped up and locked each down. New Braunfels battled and scored an equalizer in the 75th minuted on a direct kick from just outside the box. Unicorns’ Forward Christian Rodgers struck the ball from 20 yards out and found the upper 90 right corner. The match appeared to be going into overtime, when Reagan broke out with just 30 seconds left and Ricky Huereca converted on a costly turnover as he beat the New Bruanfels’ keeper one on one. An exciting end and a slight upset on the ranking side as the lower seed takes out a higher seed.
Final: SA Reagan 3 – New Bruanfels 2
14. San Marcos (7-5-4) v 3. SA Marshall (15-2-6)
San Marcos Rattlers came in as a dark horse team coming into our sim tournament have tied sixth ranked Smithson Valley 1-1 and beat eighth ranked New Braunfels 4-2 earlier in the regular season.
SA Marshall is coming in as the District 28-6A leaders and looked every much the part. SA Marshall dominated San Marcos as Marshall Sophomore Midfielder Efren Duarte scored a hat trick in the first half with two assists from Senior Ahmed Jzee and Duarte capped of his first half hat trick on a direct kick.
Angelo Rodriguez and Hendrick Ramirez capped of the scoring in the 60th and 69th minute respectively. Marshall Goalkeeper Juan Guerrero faced one shot and one save as Marshall’s defense kept Sam Marcos from threatening to score.
Final: San Marcos 0 – SA Marshall 5
11. SA Jay (12-5-4) v 6. Smithson Valley (11-5-4)
SA John Jay is our second dark horse team despite the difference in rankings both teams came into this evenly matched with similar records and goals against. SA Jay barely lost to third ranked Marshall in a 5-4 thriller earlier in the regular season. Smithson Valley beat a very good New Braunfels Canyon team 2-1 back in February.
Both defenses were on display as neither team was able to score in the first half and only manged 3 shots total. Second half was much of the same although Smithson Valley seemed to gain an edge as they out shot SA Jay 4-2 in the second half. Jay’s Goalkeeper Zachry Liu recorded 4 saves in the match and earned a clean sheet. SA Jay scored the upset and game winner in the 74th minute on a goal and absolute stunner of a shot from 25 yards out from goal. A well balanced game and one that would of most likely been a good one in real life as well.
Final: SA Jay 1 – Smithson Valley 0
15. SA Johnson (7-9-5) v 2. Schertz Clemens (18-1-1)
Despite the schools being from two different districts Johnson and Clemens met back in January with Schertz Clemens winning the tightly contested match 1-0 at Lehnhoff Stadium. This one was that could produce an upset.
Schertz Clemens Senior Forward Jorge Ugaz opened the scoring with a goal in the 8th minute and Clemens took the lead into the half up 1-0 with SA Johnson record six shots on goal but no luck in scoring as Clemens Goalkeeper Luke Breu stopped each one making six saves in the first half.
David Lozano scored the second and final goal for Schertz Clemens and got the assist from defender Dalin Burris in the 70th minute.
Final: SA Johnson 0 – Schertz Clemens 2
10. New Braunfels Canyon (13-4-4) v 7. SA Brennan (12-4-5)
New Braunfels Canyon ended the 2020 season on a four game unbeaten streak (3-0-1) which included a hard fought draw with second ranked Schertz Clemens. Meanwhile, SA Brennan who finished third in 26-6A had four draws versus the top two teams (Marshall and Warren) for a 0-0-4 record.
SA Brennan scored twice in the first half with Julian Horvath scoring in the 13th minute, assisted by Bailey Wright. In the 35th minute, Bailey Wirght, a Junior, added a goal to his earlier assist to go up 2-0 over Canyon.
Second half was a different story, New Braunfel Canyon came storming back as Junior Midfielder Luke Suarez-Pella scored twice in the 49th and 52nd minutes to even up the score 2-2. Assists were provided by Owen Feagler and Zeke Atampi. As full time expired, the match was all tied up 2-2 heading to overtime.
Overtime saw 7 shots combined by both teams but no score and heading to penalties. New Braunfels came out on top in penalties 4-3 with a save by Canyon Goalkeeper Jio Lopez making the stop to advance Canyon to an epic showdown versus Schertz Clemens in the Quarterfinal.
Final: SA Brennan 2 (3) – New Braunfels Canyon 2 (4) on PKs
13. SA O’Connor (13-7-1) v 4. SA Churchill (14-4-3)
O’Connor had a quality win over first place in the district and number three ranked Marshall back in March and while Churchill had a strong second place finish in 27-6A. Another great match up between an high and low seed team that could go either way.
SA Churchill scored first as leading scorer Skyler Frey did what he does best and scored a goal from close to the penalty spot that found the lower right corner past the diving goalkeeper for O’Connor.
Frey added a second goal, assisted by Jesus Mata and it was all SA Churchill needed to win. O’Connor’s Goalkeeper, Caleb Cotterman record 7 saves.
Final: SA O’Connor 0 – SA Churchill 2
12. SA Roosevelt (12-7-3) v 5. SA Warren (11-4-6)
Warren finished in second and drew first place SA Marshall twice in the regular season and Roosevelt finished the season with a win over SA Reagan and a draw versus SA Johnson.
Two teams that could make a run in our sim tournament and ended 0-0 in regulation and overtime. both defenses played outstanding and two evenly matched teams cancelled each other out. This went to penalties and it was an exciting 7-6 outcome with SA Warren edging SA Roosevelt as Senior Defender David Araiza put away the game winner.
Here’s out the tournament shapes out going into the Quarterfinals.
Quarterfinals will be May 15th with:
9. Reagan v 1. LEE
11. SA Jay v 3. SA Marshall
10. New Braunfels Canyon v 2. Schertz Clemens
5. SA Warren v 4. SA Churchill
Soy San Antonio Fútbol 