'Riders come up empty against Nac, 4-0
they couldn't take advantage of in the first half and eventually
dropped a 4-0 decision to Nacogdoches at Roughrider Stadium
Tuesday night. (Photo by John Krueger)
CENTER -- The Center Roughriders had several golden scoring opportunities go by the wayside in the first half Tuesday night, but only trailed Nacogdoches 1-0 at intermission in this key District 35-4A matchup. But when offensive leader Julio Martinez was red carded in the second half and CHS was forced to play a man down, they couldn't get past the Dragons as NHS recorded a 4-0 decision here at Roughrider Stadium.
The loss dropped Center (2-5-1, 0-3 district) into a tie with Diboll for fifth place in the league race as both teams possess identical 0-3 league marks. Nacogdoches improved to 3-0 in District 35-4A, taking a one-half game lead over Palestine (10-5-5, 2-0-1) and Jacksonville (7-7-1, 2-0-1) in the league standings after Jacksonville and Palestine fought to a 1-1 tie Tuesday in the Tomato Bowl.
Diboll (0-3) and Center will face-off Friday night in Diboll at 7 p.m., with the winner trying to stay in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the district. Hudson (1-2 district), which is currently in fourth place, will host Palestine. Jacksonville will travel to Nacogdoches for the other league matchup.
Frustration was the name of the game for Center in the first half Tuesday night as Center missed several chances to take the lead or tie the contest in the first 40 minutes of action.
The teams traded possessions and scoring opportunities for the first 23 minutes of the first half before the Dragons got on the scoreboard with 16:51 left after a free kick. The ball got loose in front of the Dragon goal and a shot got past Carlos Arroyo to give NHS the lead for good.
The two squads fought like heavyweights early on, with neither team getting off a clean scoring opportunity in the first five minutes.
After the Dragons missed on a crossing shot, Martinez took a long shot, which went wide left shortly afterwards as the two squads started narrowing in on their respective goals.
He later added a shot that was blocked by a defender, and German Lopez received a free kick a minute later, which was knocked away at the last possible second by a Nacogdoches defender.
Frustrations continued to mount for Center when Martinez had a shot directly in front of the goal, but the ball was caught by a diving Nacogdoches goalie to save the score near the 23-minute mark.
With about 21 minutes left in the period, Martinez found a deflection in front of the goal, but this shot also failed.
Center's Eduardo Chavez took a corner kick by German Lopez and tried to head the ball into the goal, and this shot was also saved by the NHS goalkeeper with about 21 minutes remaining.
After the Dragon goal, Nacogdoches had three scoring opportunities in the next four minutes, but two of the shot attempts were saved by Arroyo, who continued to keep his team in the game with excellent defense of the goal.
Martinez has three more shots on goal in the final six minutes of the half. He had an excellent chance to score near the six-minute mark when headed the ball directly in front of the net. But the ball just went over the crossbar.
"This was a very frustrating first half for us," said Center Head Coach Richard Ruiz. "It has been the same way in the first two district games before this; we've had some excellent scoring opportunities, the ball just seems to miss the goal or our opponents' goalie has come through with excellent defensive plays. But that's what good teams do; they make the plays to get the wins."
Ruiz said when his team was forced to play a man down, and with the loss of his biggest offensive threat in the second half, that had a huge affect on his squad.
"We not only lost Julio, but were forced a play a man down which made the task ever more difficult," Ruiz said. "We just have to bounce back now and go down to Diboll Friday and get the win."