LITTLE ELM – It’d been a while since Flower Mound Marcus head coach Sam Garza felt his team put together an all around performance before Friday night.
But he considered Marcus’ 4-0 win over Prosper in the bi-district round the perfect place to finally click and put together that complete-team display.
Senior Ethan Garza completed a brace with 33 minutes to play to officially seal the win in a game where Marcus registered 10 shots. The team also collected a clean sheet, its first since March 3 against Flower Mound.
At halftime, the team held a 1-0 lead after Garza headed home a corner delivery with 15 minutes left in the first half.
High School Sports
“I think the last few games we haven’t necessarily been hitting on all cylinders, especially coming out of the second half,” Garza said. “In the last few games, we haven’t necessarily put the ball back in the net like we really wanted to, and I kind of challenged them at halftime to continue to push because Prosper’s a solid group. They came out hungry, and they came out firing.”
Early on, Marcus’ defensive back line was put in tough situations on a few long balls. From those instances, Prosper generated nine shots in the first half, though only four were on target.
“They’re battlers, man,” Garza said of his defense. “We’ve got a solid group who, when they execute their fundamentals at a high level, they’re solid defenders. They read the game well. In our district, we have obviously the toughest opponents around, so they’re challenged week in, week out.”
The second goal came with 35 minutes left in the match from Kaifa Yuoh. Minutes later sophomore JD Hernandez lofted a ball right to Beckett Hoffmann, who slotted home the third.
“(JD is) a solid kid, super mature and the moment wasn’t too big for him tonight,” Garza said. “He’s a very technical player, he’s very sound, he’s very smart. He’s really been growing this year.”
Marcus will play Jesuit next week in the area round of the playoffs at a time and location to be determined.
– Ishmael Johnson
Coppell completes shutout to beat area-ranked Plano East
COPPELL — Friday was a painful night for Coppell defender Brooks Kaiser as his right knee was stepped on while he was on the ground late in a bi-district playoff against Plano East. He still had a smile when it was over because the job Kaiser and his fellow defenders did was worth the price.
Coppell held Plano East to five shots on goal while taking advantage of limited chances in a 2-0 victory in a Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff Friday at Buddy Echols Field. Led by Kaiser as well as defenders such a Luke Brinck and Mohamed Ouedraogo, Coppell often stopped Plano East one pass short of quality scoring chances.
Plano East’s best scoring chance on 20-yard blast by Kolby Lee in the 65th minute, but Chase Anderson got low to make his best save in a shutout. It was Coppell’s first shutout since a scoreless tie against Hebron on Feb. 17. The injury Kaiser suffered in the 76th minute forced him to miss the rest of the game, but he anticipates returning for the area round of the playoff next week.
“We played very deep. They like to drive in and then kick it out to score on the backside, but we kept those passes from happening,” Kaiser said. “It was a mix of everything when it came to being smarter, anticipation and playing hard.”
Coppell (15-4-4), ranked No. 7 in The Dallas Morning News’ Class 6A area poll, advances to face Lake Highlands (14-3-6) in the area round with the time, date and site to be determined. No. 10-ranked Plano East (13-6-3), making its first playoff appearance since 2018, was denied it first playoff victory since 2016.
“It was our best defensive performance this year, in some ways,” Coppell coach Stephen Morris said. “We had good anticipation. It required a lot more running from us. Good games, bad games, easy games, hard games, it requires running and suffering.”
Plano East had a modest 2-1 advantage in shots on goal, but Coppell took advantage of the one shot, and break, to convert. Taking advantage of the Plano East goalie overplaying the ball, Ian Wanemba converted from 15 yards out for a goal in the bottom-right corner in the 23rd minute for the lone score of the first half. Plano East’s best scoring opportunity in the first half was a header by Larkin Ma-hain from five yards out in the eighth minute, but he was denied on a diving save by Anderson.
Coppell had just three shots on goal for the game, although did have a 7-5 edge in additional tries. Sebastian Duran gave Coppell an insurance goal with 7:01 remaining of a five-yard goal in traffic off a Liam Speller pass. Speller had assists in the game.
Wanemba nearly had a second goal in the 56th minute, but 25-yard reverse kick went off the crossbar.
– Rick Kretzschmar
Southlake Carroll finally breaks through Mansfield Legacy’s defense
CROWLEY — Hiyoungiu Kim scored two first-half goals as Southlake Carroll defeated Mansfield Legacy, 3-1, in what was an entertaining and thrilling Class 6A Division II Bi-District affair at Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium.
While Carroll had a lopsided number of scoring chances the game remained scoreless. That would change in the later stages of the first half. Kim scored his first goal with 10:48 remaining and added the second one just under four minutes later.
Carroll keeper Graham Byrne did not have to break up much of a sweat as the contest was mostly played with Legacy on the defense.
Legacy (9-10-2) showed much more fight to begin the second half—a half which was played at a blistering pace in which both teams had more than its share of scoring chances. Carroll, despite being impatient at times, kept the upper hand.
Keeper Angel Aguilar made one terrific save after another to keep his team within striking distance in what could have easily been a deficit of 5-0 or worse. Byrne kept the Legacy offense frustrated as he would not allow anything to get past him.
John Skiermont added the insurance goal for Carroll with 6:10 remaining to seal the victory.
Luke Lenamond scored on a penalty kick with 90 seconds remaining as Legacy avoided the shutout.
Carroll (15-0-8) will face Jesuit in the area round.
– Anthony Green
Area results:
Jesuit 3, South Grand Prairie 1: Cooper McGough’s brace was the catalyst for Jesuit in the team’s bi-district win over SGP. Corbyn Wendorf was the team’s other goal scorer. Jesuit faces Flower Mound Marcus next week.
Frisco Liberty 1, Highland Park 0: Asher Ervin’s 61st-minute goal was enough to push Frisco Liberty past Highland Park and now Liberty faces the winner of Anna and Jacksonville next week in the area round.
Frisco Heritage 4, Frisco Reedy 0: Bennett Kerr’s hat trick and one more goal from Hayden Gibb boosted Heritage’s bi-district win. Artur Rojas finished with a clean sheet with high quality defending from Ethan Stewart and Evan Tatum. Heritage faces Prosper Walnut Grove next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Celina in the area round.
Frisco Heritage 4, Frisco Reedy 0: Bennett Kerr’s hat trick and one more goal from Hayden Gibb boosted Heritage’s bi-district win. Artur Rojas finished with a clean sheet with high quality defending from Ethan Stewart and Evan Tatum. Heritage faces Prosper Walnut Grove next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Celina in the area round.
Prosper Richland 3, Nevada Community 1
Rockwall 2, Sachse 1
Skyline 3, Bryan 2
Duncanville 4, Waco Midway 0
Midlothian Heritage 3, Belton 1
Colleyville Heritage 3, Chisholm Trail 1
Ferris 4, Gatesville 0
Joshua 2, FW South Hills 1
Lake Dallas 1, FW Eastern Hills
Mansfield 4, Justin Northwest 3
FW Paschal 1, Burleson Centennial 0
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