Historic season for Diamond Hill-Jarvis boys soccer ends with loss in 4A state final
The Diamond Hill-Jarvis boys soccer team made history Saturday morning simply by stepping on the pitch for the state championship game. Just getting to that point was in itself a magical run in that no soccer team in the history of the Fort Worth ISD had ever gone that deep in the playoffs.
However, the Cinderella season would not have the ultimate fairy tale ending as the Eagles fell to the Boerne Greyhounds, 3-1, in the UIL 4A state championship at Birkelbach Field.
The Eagles gave up three goals before scoring their lone tally late in the second half. The Greyhounds earned their second state title, having won it previously in 2006.
Diamond Hill-Jarvis was the first boys or girls soccer team from Fort Worth ISD to even reach the UIL state semifinals, let alone a title game. The boys soccer team was also the first squad from the school to reach state in any major team sport.
“There are thousands, millions of student-athletes that want to play on the last day of the season,” said Diamond Hill-Jarvis coach Kyle Reopelle. “Only two teams get to be here and we made it. It was historic for us, and we’ve raised the bar for Diamond Hill-Jarvis and for Fort Worth, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
A vocal crowd of about 500 Eagles fans, who seemed to outnumber their opponents’ fans two to one, made the 165-mile trip to witness the game. They came with noisemakers and chanted “Diamond Hill!” and “Eagles!” throughout the entire contest. “[We’re] thankful for our community for coming out and supporting us,” Reopelle said.
Boerne (22-1-1) gave Diamond Hill-Jarvis (26-5-2) trouble early doubling up the Eagles’ shot attempts 6-3 in the first half. The Greyhounds had back-to-back corner kicks in the 11th and 12 minutes.
The first attempt was stopped and cleared by the Eagles’ defense and goalkeeper Cesar Ortiz.
But the Greyhounds got a second chance and capitalized on the opportunity when Jess Gonzales beat Ortiz from close range and scored on a Brett Hettie assist.
The Eagles had two close chances to tie the game in the first half when sophomore Ricardo Gonzalez dribbled inside the box and to the left of the net, but his chip shot was caught by Boerne goalkeeper Noah LeMaster.
Shortly after, Gonzalez was in the same spot and passed it to Eduardo Lopez, who’s attempt from close range was stopped by LeMaster and cleared by his back line.
Boerne would take the 1-nil lead into halftime.
Diamond Hill-Jarvis would go down 2-0 in the 51st minute when Justin Moore crossed a ball to Landon Murphy, who was later voted MVP, then kicked a one-timer over Ortiz. Fourteen minutes later, Boerne extended the lead on a Joe Ballenger header from a Murphy corner kick. The Greyhounds attempted a whopping 17 corners, including 12 in the second half.
“They have phenomenal forwards with great chemistry. They like to run into space and it was difficult for our midfielders to track them,” Reopelle said. “They have more height so we had to defend in numbers. They got that second half wind and got a lot of corners, and it was difficult for us to clear our lines.”
The Eagles kept fighting and finally scored their lone goal in the 76th minute.
Luis Jaimes lined up for a free kick 40 yards out. His boot was headed by Edward Zuniga and headed again by senior Andres Montes who won the 50-50 ball against LeMaster as the ball crossed the goal line.
“[Andres] is another guy that works his butt off, and I’m delighted for him,” Reopelle said. “They gave everything. It was a 50-50 ball with the keeper and a lot of kids go up scared, but he didn’t. You could see the heart and desire to be the first Fort Worth ISD player to score in a championship game.”
Diamond Hill-Jarvis had four shots, all on goal, while Boerne attempted 13 shots with eight on goal. Ortiz had five saves on the day.
“I told them to keep their heads up. I mentioned the history before and you can’t take that away from them. They left everything on the field,” Reopelle said of his team, whose 26 wins is the most the program has recorded over the past 10 seasons. “They’ve been here where no one has been before for Fort Worth ... Not many soccer players get to play in mid-April for the championship.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2021 at 12:58 PM.
