Soccer recap: Fort Worth Wyatt boys, other area teams make history in bi-district round

BOYS

FW Wyatt 3, Burleson 2

Wyatt coach Rafael Avalos talked about leaving a legacy.

The Chaparrals entered Thursday night 0-3 in their boys soccer playoff history. But thanks to a Valentin Garcia header off Diemercy Kyanga’s corner attempt with eight minutes left, Wyatt secured its first playoff win with a victory over Burleson in a Class 5A Region 1 bi-district game at Clark Stadium.

“During all the corners, they had a defender who kept covering me and he was pretty good,” said Garcia, a senior captain. “On the last corner, I don’t know why but he switched with someone else and the other kid was shorter than me so I knew this was it. I saw the ball in the air, waited a little bit and jumped and scored. It was perfect.”

Wyatt (19-5-1), ranked No. 9 in the final Fort Worth-area soccer rankings, will play Colleyville Heritage in the second round at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mustang-Panther Stadium in Grapevine.

“All the credit goes to my players. We made it to the playoffs a few times, but we’d always lose in the first round,” said Avalos, in his 13th season with Wyatt. “This is history and I told them that before the game. It’s up to you. Do you want to be the same or leave your legacy and be remembered as the soccer players that made a difference. Just proud of them. They played their hearts out.”

Both offenses couldn’t find the back of the net in a scoreless first half, yet, Wyatt seemed to gain more possession. The Chaparrals got the first three shots on goal, but Burleson was able to stop each attempt.

Burleson’s first shot near the goal hit the side of the net in the 17th minute. The Elks (14-9) had back-to-back opportunities in the 27th and 29th minutes that just went wide.

The scoring picked up after intermission with Burleson scoring first in the 45th minute on a Caleb Yauger goal, his 35th of the season. Yauger got a nice pass and just beat a charging goalie to score.

Kyanga picked up a loose ball and beat the back row to tie it for Wyatt in the 49th minute. The Chaparrals took its first lead at 2-1 in the 60th minute on a lefty boot by Yester Izaguirre.

Two minutes later and Burleson knotted up the score at 2 with a goal by Luke Peterson.

Wyatt had three corner attempts with back-to-back coming under the 10-minute mark. Kyanga served up the second attempt, a perfect ball for Garcia.

“Special group of guys. I had a feeling we could make some history,” senior captain defender Sebastian Aldaba said. “Feels great to go to the second round. Everyone played their part. First half was a little rough with some nerves, but we got comfortable in the second half.”

FW Arlington Heights 3, Mansfield Legacy 2 (SO 5-4)

Arlington Heights tied the game in the 66th minute on a goal by Estevan Rosas Aguilera then won in a shootout (5-4 PKs) over Mansfield Legacy in a Class 5A Region 1 bi-district game at R.L. Anderson Stadium in Mansfield on Thursday.

Heights (13-5), the third seed from District 7-5A, will meet Wichita Falls (22-0) in the area round.

Legacy (17-5-4), No. 2 out of 8-5A, got two goals from Jacob Stillings (15th and 62nd minutes), but the Yellowjackets answered both times. Joahan Garcia tied the game at 1 with his goal in the 50th minute on a perfectly executed free kick from 25 yards out.

Stillings beat a defender then snuck the ball under the leg of the goalkeeper for his first goal then punched in a rebound off a corner kick from 20 yards out. But Stillings was the only Bronco to have his penalty kick stopped by Arlington Heights goalkeeper Hugh Elliot in the shootout.

GIRLS

Mansfield Timberview 4, FW Arlington Heights 0

Shanti Weddington scored twice and the Wolves defense posted their 14th shutout as Timberview beat Arlington Heights in a Class 5A Region 1 bi-district game at Anderson Stadium Thursday night to secure its first playoff win since 2010.

Timberview (19-4), which is in the playoffs for the first time since 2014, will play WF Rider (15-2-1) in the area round.

“When I got here three years ago I could see the potential it was a matter of changing the mindset,” Timberview coach Jessica Perez-Woodrum said. “They’re committed to the program and because of all that, we’re here now with this win.”

The Wolves, No. 10 in area rankings, made it hard for Arlington Heights to cross midfield and gain any offensive attack. Timberview had the upper hand for most of the game and seemed to pick up corner kick after corner kick.

Weddington, a sophomore, scored her first goal in the 16th minute when she split two defenders and booted the ball off her right foot and above a diving goalie.

“It was important for us to play for our seniors, our team and our school. I’m proud of our group,” Weddington said. “11 years is crazy, but I’m glad to be a part of this amazing team.”

Holley Whitt played lights out for the Yellowjackets in goal making a few nice saves to keep it a one-score game.

But the Wolves were too much as they got Weddington’s second goal with one minute left in the half and a score by Samantha Alvarado early in the second half to make it 3-0.

Taylor Fingers finished off the scoring with her goal in the 49th minute.

“Shanti is a phenomenal player. In crunch time, she finds ways to score goals,” Perez-Woodrum said. “My defense doesn’t have a lot of experience, but they work so hard to learn the game and they’re committed to playing that back row the way it’s supposed to be played.”

Benbrook 5, Godley 0

For the first time in program history, the Benbrook girls soccer team is headed to the second round after it shut out Godley in a Class 4A Region 1 bi-district game at Benbrook High School.

The Bobcats (18-3-1) got goals from Whitney Thomas (2), Raegan Dash (2) and Chloe Cox.

Caydence Johnston recorded her 13th consecutive shutout.

Benbrook finished up district play 10-0 and didn’t allow a goal (91-0).

The Bobcats will play Castleberry in the area round.

This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 11:35 PM.