Marble Falls boys soccer beats Canyon Lake, wins district title
CAPTION: The 2026 Marble Falls High School boys soccer team celebrates winning the District 26-4A championship. Photo by Shaunna Marcum/ShaunnaLisa of Cliffhanger Loop Productions.
The Marble Falls High School boys soccer team crushed Fischer Canyon Lake 5-1 March 10 to clinch the District 26-4A championship.
“Our team is just putting things in perspective,” head coach Ryan Craven said. “And their faith in God has been really inspirational for me. I think they’re growing in their walk with the Lord, which is cool to see for me personally. That means a lot. I’ve just seen these guys commit to one another. They deal with me every day because I’m a hard coach to deal with. It’s special because (before former head coach Rick) Hoover left, he did a good job, leaving a legacy with two district championships before he left. And we’re just trying to continue that. The credit goes to all the kids because they’re the ones playing and they’ve done a really good job. We have good captains (Joaquin Aguilar, Ismayl Ismaylov and Aaron Luna). We don’t really have character issues whatsoever.”
Because of weather, officials played the varsity game at 5 p.m., two hours earlier than scheduled.
He instructed his players to get to the locker room as soon as the final bell of the school day rang to dismiss classes. As a result, the Mustangs were out of their game day routine.
Canyon Lake struck first, scoring on a corner kick in the first 10 minutes of the contest.
“We skipped the pregame meal, had to get a hold of their parents to bring jerseys up (earlier),” the coach said. “We rolled slow, kind of lethargic. And they got that goal, and we finally settled down. And the goals just started falling in the net.
Angel Campos scored two goals off corner kicks with assists from Eliezer Chocoj.
“That was awesome,” the coach said.
Chocoj also assisted Toni Flores on his goal. Daniel Dominguez scored the next goal with an assist from Eric Flores for a 4-1 lead by halftime.
“And we were going into the wind,” Craven said.
Carlos Loredo finished the scoring in the second half.
Since it was the final match of the regular season, the program originally planned to honor the seniors before kickoff. However, since the matches were flipped, the seniors and their families were recognized after the match.
“They were emotional,” Craven said. “I don’t think they were expecting to be emotional about it. But most of these guys have been playing with each other since they were five or six years old. And they didn’t realize that we’re going to have another home playoff game.”
Marble Falls will welcome Austin LBJ in a bi-district championship at 7 p.m. Friday, March 20, at Mustang Stadium to begin the Class 4A Division I playoffs.
“Our motto on the shirts that we do our fundraising was unfinished business,” Craven said. “Because last year we felt like we let a district championship get away from us and never could make up the ground. And this year we slipped up the first game of the (district) season (a 2-1 loss at Wimberley Jan. 27), and then we never looked back after that. And so we basically finished our first goal, which was to win a district championship. So now we just want to keep on winning playoff games and go further and further and further. The expectation now is to get all the way to the regional finals – that’s what we’re shooting for. And if you get there, then anything is possible.”
