Christian Varela and the Hays boys soccer team were hoping to defend their Rebel Cup crown last weekend but had to settle for seventh place after pool-play losses to Austin Reagan and Steele. Hays went on to beat Crockett and Canyon Lake High for its two victories in the tournament. Steele won the competitive 15-team event with a victory in the finals over Corpus Christi King. Both the Hays and Lehman boys teams start district play January 31. (photo by Cyndy Slovak-Barton)
by Jason Gordon
While Hays and Lehman didn’t qualify for the Rebel Cup soccer tournament finals as both had in recent years, head coaches Jason Burnett and Jay Sansom are satisfied with the directions their teams are heading as district play near.
Hays High was looking to repeat as champions. The home team won the Rebel Cup in 2011, and was defeated by cross-town rival Lehman in the tournament finals in 2010.
Injuries and a couple of tough matchups in pool play ultimately led to the Rebs finishing seventh out of 15 teams in the tourney.
Hays, which didn’t suffer its second loss of the season last year until the area round of the playoffs, lost two games in pool play at the Rebel Cup.
“That’s exactly what these kids needed,” Burnett said. “They have to realize they are not last year’s team and they are not going to win games by showing up on the field with the Hays jersey on their backs. That said, we have a chance to be a very good team once this group figures out what their identity is. They are still learning how to play together.”
Hays opened the tournament Thursday with a 1-0 loss to Austin Reagan despite 22 saves in goal by Rebel keeper Robert Cowan.
Hays’ Omar Rangel had a one-on-one breakaway that Reagan’s keeper saved with seven seconds remaining that would have tied the match.
Later that day, Hays turned a 1-0 halftime lead against Crockett into a 5-1 blowout victory.
Christian Varela had a three-goal hat trick against the Cougars, and Rangel and Tom Ayers added goals for the Rebs.
“We made some adjustments at halftime, and once the kids figured it out we were scoring every five minutes on them,” Burnett said. “It’s was nice to see things finally come around like that where, boom, we were getting a lot of easy goals.”
Hays opened play Friday with a 3-0 win over Canyon Lake High in which Varela, Rangel and Taylor Herselman scored.
In the game that ultimately knocked Hays out of contention for the Rebel Cup title, the Rebs lost 3-1 against Steele Friday afternoon.
The game was tied 1-1 at half thanks to a Billy Bolton goal for the Rebels, but Steele pulled away in the second half to earn the win.
Steele went on to beat Corpus Christi King for the Rebel Cup title on Saturday.
“Steele is a big, talented team that moves the ball very well,” Burnett said. “They play very technically sound soccer, but I thought we played very well against them. I was proud of our team because it was our fourth game in two days and I had seven different varsity players miss time due to injuries. We had four players that would have normally been on JV up on the varsity for that game.”
Lehman got off to a quick start in the tournament by beating Akins, a former three-time winner of the Rebel Cup, 1-0 thanks to Fernando Mercado’s unassisted corner-kick goal that found the back of the net in the second half.
The Lobos then beat Rouse by that same 1-0 score thanks to another Mercado goal that was assisted by Eli Guajardo.
On Friday, Lehman had a pair of 0-0 ties against Leander and Manor, but it was Leander that went on to Saturday’s championship round because they scored more total goals in pool play. Lehman was forced into the fifth-sixth place game Saturday, where the Lobos fell 4-2 to Del Valle despite goals from Adolfo Gonzalez and Guajardo that were assisted by Albert Percastegui and Pablo Martinez.
“We were out-shot in pretty much all of our matches,” Sansom said. “But the guys hung in there and I thought our two goal keepers, Andres Castro and Fernando Ortiz, did an outstanding job all tournament.”
Sansom also noted the play of defenders Victor Bravo and Josh Neuham.
“I was very proud of our defensive effort,” Sansom said. “If we play like that all year we’re going to have a chance to be pretty good. We got to play a lot of soccer and we were pretty tired by Saturday, but that’s a good thing for a young team like we have.”
Lehman is back in action at the Akins Tournament beginning Thursday. The Lobos open play in the tourney Thursday against East Side Memorial at Burger Center beginning at 6 p.m.
Hays will play in the Garland Tournament, where the Rebs will take on Allen High School on Thursday, Fort Worth Poly Technical on Friday and Plano West on Saturday.
Hays opens district play at LaGrange Jan. 31. Lehman opens district play at Bastrop on Jan. 31.
