Texans quietly building a foundation

By Kevin Lonnquist

klonnquist@star-telegram.com

Northwest boys soccer coach Brent Beeson can see the positives building for his program. In his second year running the team, a once dormant program is coming back to life.

Now, the Texans (5-13-2, 2-7-2 in District 4-5A) are not going to make the playoffs. But considering that this program had not won a district game in three years, the fact that it has two victories and two ties demonstrates the uptick. One of those two wins is an upset of district leader Keller on Feb. 1. The playoff participants are already relatively set between Keller, Keller Central, Richland and Carroll.

“We’re definitely better than last year,” Beeson said. “It’s not as quick as I would like. We don’t have a lot of kids who play soccer on the team and that’s the only thing they do. So it’s an uphill climb. But we’re getting there.”

Beeson, who came from Class 3A Waco Robinson two years ago, has been working through the middle school feeder programs trying to instill the desire by those players to make it a goal to come to Northwest and be a part of a program that’s building a foundation.

“I’m getting out to games and practices, and so I hope that we can get through to some kids and have some positive results,” Beeson said.

The Texans are off this week because of spring break.

Moving parts

The Texans wound up losing to Carroll last Friday in the final game before spring break, 3-0. Despite the shutout, the team has scored 23 goals, nine by senior co-captain Christian Vazquez.

Last year, this team had to play more of an umbrella style game. It didn’t have enough offense to keep up with the more talented teams, but it had enough to make sure that the opposition would have a more difficult time trying to score. The Texans have allowed 43 goals.

But injuries have played into this team playing out of position.

The team is down to its third keeper in senior Steven Taylor. Sage Rickers and Daniel Garcia were lost to injuries within the last three weeks. Taylor is playing because Beeson has little choice. He’s more of an offensive player.

“We’re just trying to get by with what we have,” Beeson said. “We have had some tough breaks and we don’t have a lot of depth. I can’t complain about the effort because I know the guys are doing what they can.”

Byron Nelson update

With seven starters returning from the Class 4A Region I quarterfinal team, coach Howard Putter thought this group was going to be in pretty good shape to return to the playoffs and make a deep run.

The Bobcats (18-4-3, 6-1-1 in District 11-4A) lost to Denton last Friday but are still in control of the district championship race. Really, they can finish no worse than second. The team is off this week because of spring break.

This team is headed by sophomore stopper Christian Pratt, junior sweeper Brett Powell, senior forward Jalen Jones and senior keeper Travis Carmichael.

“This is a big group that if we get a little luck, we can get to state,” Putter said. “We’re a great ball possession team and create a lot of shots. One thing we need to do better is make sure we don’t let teams back into games.”

Nelson has already clinched a playoff berth.

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