News

HALTOM CITY -- The perfect season is no more for Richland High School's boys soccer team. Call it the semi-perfect season.

The Rebels, 15-0-0 before Tuesday night, managed only a 1-1 tie against Colleyville Heritage in a District 6-5A game on a cool night at Birdville Stadium when Adam Kemp punched in a goal for the determined Panthers with only 1:30 remaining in the game.

It had taken Richland, despite dominating play, more than 70 minutes to finally break a scoreless tie when Angel Aveytia converted a high free kick and fortuitous bounce off a posse of players into a goal from about 10 yards out with only 9:15 to play.

The Rebels (3-0-1 in district) missed a couple of good chances in the next few minutes, but it was Colleyville Heritage, now only 1-5-5 and 0-2-3, which put on the pressure at the finish.

As much as Richland caught a good bounce on its goal, so did the Panthers. Credit Amado Alatorre -- playing Colleyville Heritage's only striker position -- for fighting to gain possession in a scramble on the Rebels' end and firing a shot, which popped off Richland defenders high into the air and landed directly at the feet of Kemp, who was unmarked. And with goalie Jared Hall drawn out for the possible rebound, Kemp had an easy shot into goal.

That spoiled the night for Richland, which dominated play, especially with junior midfielder Jorge Cuadra's dribbling magic, deft passing and dangerous free kicks. He has 11 goals and four assists this season, and he created numerous chance in this one.

Jorge's younger brother Cristian, a sophomore, has 17 goals and six assists and a style as impressive as his aerodynamic Mohawk and gold shoes. But the Colleyville Heritage defense, helped by some shaky officiating, kept the Cuadras from scoring with a physical style and an alignment with four men in the back and five midfielders.

Panthers goalie Mason Jarboe made one fine save, punching a header by Daniel Villanueva off Jorge Cuadra's corner kick over the net. On the ensuing corner kick, Luis Villanueva's shot banged off the left post.

"It's disappointing to get a draw like this, but they're a good team," said Richland coach Matt Snow, whose team is enjoying the program's best season in a decade. "I definitely feel we had the better team. We possessed the ball most of the game. It's just unfortunate not to put the ball in the goal; we hit the post about three times.

"We're usually pretty good at getting through people and scoring goals, and that's probably the biggest disappointment, not being able to finish. We couldn't get through their back. They packed it in a little bit. We failed to capitalize on our opportunities."

"I'm satisfied [with the result]," Colleyville Heritage coach Mike Ridley said, "because they're a good team. They're a fast team.

"We played a defensive game until they scored, then we threw some guys forward. That makes me wonder if we'd played more guys forward, it could've a different game. They've got some really skilled players. They're very talented and fast."

Alatorre kept pushing the Colleyville Heritage attack, and it finally paid off. And Ridley was happy with the result.

"Especially when we're down," the coach said. "With 10 minutes to go, I thought maybe we'll get a 0-0 tie. Then to fight back and get a tie after giving up a goal, that's good. It shows that these guys have got some fight in them."

Despite his effort, Jorge Cuadra took part of the blame.

"We messed up in the back, and they scored on us," Cuadra said. "I didn't kick the ball out of bounds; a kid took it away from me [leading to the Panthers' goal]. ... We're disappointed. We should have won this game. ... We should have passed the ball more."