Diamond Hill-Jarvis boys soccer team advances past Celina into 4A state title game
It’s been a long time since Fort Worth ISD has had any state success in a major team sport. The Dunbar girls basketball team has the last championship for FWISD when it won in 2007.
The Dunbar boys basketball team is the last to win a male title from the 2006 season.
Diamond-Hill Jarvis is a win away from snapping that championship drought for Fort Worth and completing a Cinderella season in style after the Eagles knocked off Celina, 4-2, in a Class 4A boys soccer state semifinal on Tuesday at Dragon Stadium.
“I continue to be proud of these guys and I’m happy to see all these people come and support them for working so hard not just this year, but for years and it’s paying off for a special group of guys,” DHJ coach Kyle Reopelle said.
The Eagles (25-4-2) scored two goals in each half to eliminate the Bobcats and set up a state championship match with Boerne (21-1-1) on Saturday from Georgetown HS. It’s scheduled for 10 a.m.
“It’s an honor to represent Fort Worth and this city going forward,” Reopelle said. “So many great schools and so many coaches, boys and girls that work really hard day in and day out.”
In a showdown between two teams making it to state for the first time, it was Diamond Hill-Jarvis that appeared to be more well experienced than Celina with more possession in the early going.
Three minutes into Tuesday night’s contest and DHJ went up 1-0 on a goal from junior Cristian Alvarez.
DHJ had two more attempts to extend its lead in the 14th minute, but Celina’s goal keeper made the stop, and in the 19th minute when a Ricardo Gonzalez attempt went high.
The Eagles got another close free kick under 10 minutes left in the first half stopped, but did manage to cushion their lead to 2-0 with 1:12 to go on a Edgar Rodriguez goal.
DHJ set up for a corner kick and Celina had trouble clearing it. After a short scrum inside the box, the ball went to Rodriguez who sliced it past a defender and the goal keeper.
The Eagles held a 2-0 lead at intermission when the lights went off at the stadium.
After about 15 minutes, the lights came back on and it didn’t faze Diamond Hill, which got a goal in the 43rd minute when Gonzalez, a sophomore, took a nice pass and beat the goalie for a 3-0 advantage.
“For the most part I thought if we could capitalize some mistakes and counter from there, it could go well for us,” Reopelle said. “Credit to these guys. We don’t rely on one guy, it’s a whole team effort.”
Celina finally scored on a Marcos Arana goal in the 62nd minute, but it was quickly answered by a goal from DHJ sophomore Jaime Rivera 60 seconds later.
On a corner attempt, Rivera received the ball and turned past a defender before sliding to the ground and getting the ball past the Celina keeper.
Arana would score again with eight minutes left to pull Celina within 4-2.
“It’s an unbelievable dream come true, but the work isn’t done yet,” DHJ senior defender Andres Montes said. “We aren’t finished here, but we deserve it. We’ve been working as a team and it’s been amazing.”
This story was originally published April 14, 2021 at 12:22 AM.
