Marble Falls boys soccer beats LBJ for bi-district title
CAPTION: The Mustangs are all smiles after beating Austin LBJ for a bi-district championship March 20 to start the Class 4A Division I playoffs. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School boys soccer team stomped Austin LBJ 6-1 March 20 for a Class 4A Division I bi-district championship.
The Mustangs (15-3-5, 10-1-1 District 26-4A champions) will play Uvalde at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, at Kerrville Tivy’s Antler Stadium in the area round.
The Coyotes (12-10-1, 8-3-1 District 28-4A third place) defeated San Antonio Kennedy 2-1 March 20 for a bi-district championship.
Against LBJ, Marble Falls took a 1-0 lead within five minutes of the start of the match when Joaquin Aguilar found the back of the net thanks to an assist from Jose Campos Garcia then kept adding to the total.
The Mustangs scored five goals by the 23-minute mark of the first half.
“We started out really fast, which is something that we talked about,” head coach Ryan Craven said. “We had two really good days of practice. Our shots were on target, which is a huge deal. We possessed the ball well.”
Marble Falls added its final goal at the 28:13 mark when Aguilar scored on a stop and go with an assist from Eliezer Chocoj.
Chocoj scored three goals thanks to assist from Ismayl Ismaylov, Aguilar and Diego Lacayo. Erick Flores also scored thanks to an assist from Juston Buezo Lopez.
The Jaguars (10-5-2, 9-3-1 District 25-4A third place) scored their only goal on a penalty kick though Marble Falls junior goalie Jett Marcum dived to his right, guessing correctly on where the ball was going to be sent. He was inches away from the stop.
Officials said a Mustang looped his arm around a Jaguar and pulled him down inside the penalty box.
“The one that we gave up that was an unlucky PK,” Craven said.
Offensively, the Mustangs took advantage of the LBJ defense that allowed them to use their speed and keep the Jaguars on their heels. As a result, the Mustang who had the ball was able to pass to an open teammate, who didn’t hesitate in finding the back of the net.
“They had one guy really, really deep to clean everything up, which opened it up for us to possess it,” the coach said. “We made good decisions with the ball.”
Most of the match was played on the LBJ side of the 50-yard line, indicating the Mustangs were in firm control of how the match played out.
“We didn’t just kick it, kick it vertically,” Craven said. “We looked and broke it down, so that was awesome to see.”
Meanwhile, Marble Falls didn’t let up defensively. The Mustangs were equally quick in getting to the ball on their end of the 50-yard line and not letting the Jaguars set up an offense. Marcum had about four outstanding saves in the first half.
“He had to get out (of the net),” the coach said. “He didn’t fall asleep, and he made some good saves. Our defense played a really, really good game. We were rotating different guys in and out trying to keep them fresh, so that was cool for everybody to play. We defended smart and didn’t really dive in and give them fouls. We had one foul on our defensive side of the field , which is huge.”
All three Marble Falls goalies logged minutes
“That was huge,” Craven said.
The Mustangs have won 12 matches in a row, and Craven believes being battle tested by District 26-4A is a big reason for the playoff victory.
“I was telling our guys before the game they have been tested,” Craven said. “Even against the last-place team in our district, you have to show up and play. And they all defend (very well). So I think our district really helped us a lot tonight, because we were expecting it to be extremely physical and violent and they’re well-coached.”
Marble Falls beat Uvalde 4-0 in 2023 in the area round before losing 2-1 to Boerne High.
