TEXARKANA, Texas -- Texas High and Pleasant Grove met in their annual rivalry match between their boys varsity teams Tuesday night at Grim Stadium in front of a crowd of more than 300. The Texas High Tiger Boys Soccer team used a 6-0 victory in the match to extend its club record season opening winning streak to seven.
The 1991 and 2005 Tiger teams started their season with three straight wins. The 1997 team started the season with a tie followed by four wins.
The Tigers started with a goal in the first minute of the match when Austin Miller scored the first of his four goals on the evening when he took a pass from Diego Perez and buried a shot in the back of the Pleasant Grove Hawks net. Five minutes later Sam Tettamanti scored the second Tiger goal off a pass from Austin Miller.
The Tiger intensity and passing accuracy seemed to wane a bit after the second goal.
The Hawks made several runs over the next 15 minutes but none resulted in points for Pleasant Grove. In the 28th minute the Tigers' Seth Trusty scored off an assist from Javier Mendoza. In spite of the score, neither side let up. Two minutes after Trusty's goal the intensity lead to the night's first booking when Tiger defender Lucky Abhulimen was handed a yellow card.
In the 35th minute, Mendoza got his second assist when his pass led to another Miller goal. The Tigers took a 4-0 lead into the half.
In the second half, Tigers Coach Zak McCarthy began rotating more players into the game. While much of the second half was played in the Tigers defensive half of the field, they maintained the edge in possession. Five minutes into the second half Tiger senior Michael Bradshaw was the recipient of the second booking of the evening when he received a yellow card.
The Tiger scoring resumed in the 58th minute when Miller took a precise pass from defender Aidyn Bennett and carried the ball the length of the pitch for his third goal of the evening. The Tigers completed the scoring when Tetttamanti delivered a pass from the right attacking side of the Hawk penalty area to Miller near the penalty spot, who placing the ball past the Hawk keeper.
With less than a minute remaining in the match the Tigers suffered perhaps the most lasting blow of the match when Abhulimen was booked for a second yellow card. After brief discussion between the match officials he was then shown a red card by rule.
The red not only disqualifies the player for the remainder of the match (and he cannot be replaced on the filed), it also disqualifies him from the next match as well.The Tigers played the final seconds with 10 players on the field. The Tiger defense and goalkeeper Mat Delk preserved another clean sheet on the night.
Coach McCarthy left the match with mixed feelings. The Tigers had a possession rate of over 60%. The quality of play and speed where not at the level he expected from earlier performances in the season. He did praise the squad on their problem solving and tactical implementation.
"We must be sharper as we have very difficult games coming up and a very challenging district schedule," he said, but added "a win against the hometown rival is always a great and fun thing and for that I'm pleased."
McCarthy warned that in spite of the team's great start, adversity was just around the corner referring to the Tigers next two opponents Greenville and Tyler.
"I'm expecting two quality, talented hard working teams.," McCarthy said. "I'm excited to face these challenges. The rest of the year every single game will be a difficult challenge."
Up Next
The Tiger varsity team continues play with a home match at 6 p.m. Friday. The Tigers will play the Greenville Lions at the Texas A&M University-Texarkana soccer field. Due to the University's COVID protocol, spectators are limited to team staff and players' families.
The Tiger JV team begins tournament play today in Longview. The team plays Center, Texas, at 9 a.m. and Mount Pleasant at noon.
Pleasant Grove’s Hayes Lawrence, No. 9, attacks the Texas High back line and its defensive midfielder Jo Jo Minor, No. 6. Behind Minor is defender Daniel Lee. To the right is Frank Delk, No. 20. The Texas High defense held Pleasant Grove scoreless Tuesday night in the annual crosstown rivalry game. (Photo by Kevin Sutton)