Two goals enough for Apache win

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GONZALES — A much-improved Taylor Ducks’ boys’ soccer team pushed the Apaches to the limit as Gonzales escaped the District 26-4A game with a 2-1 win, moving to 2-0 in district.

“Tonight was a hard-fought win,” Gonzales’ head coach Greg Ramirez said. “We knew coming into this game how tough they were going to be. Eastside Memorial barely beat them 2-0, so I knew they were going to be tough. Taylor has been improving every year and this year is the toughest I’ve ever seen them play. We had to do our job and we got it done.”

The Ducks began the first half with a long ball launched to the box as they stayed in the Gonzales third, pressing for a goal. The Apaches were able to get possession and finally got their first goal of the night in the 25th minute of play. Senior forward Santiago Escoto got into the box, dribbled by two defenders and shot it toward the right of the goal, getting it past the keeper for a 1-0 lead.

“All those openings come from our midfielders,” Ramirez explained.

Midfielders Fabian Cardoza and Jose Flores as well as forward Rogelio Sanchez forced the Taylor defense to sneak up and guard those players, allowing Escoto to get in the box relatively cleanly during that goal.

“They open up the hole for him,” Ramirez said, “they ‘sticky’ out the defenders for Santiago to be open in the middle.”

Escoto scored another goal, this time in the second half in the 50th minute. Sanchez launched the ball to the box and as Escoto gathered it, he dribbled, faked a shot to trick Taylor goalkeeper Michael Weber into diving and then chipped an easy goal into the net to put Gonzales up 2-0.

However, 14 seconds later, Taylor took advantage of a gaffe by the Gonzales defenders, as Gabriel Tellez launched the ball to the box and Bryan Morales was able to easily head it over toward the goal as keeper Daniel Barrientos and his centerbacks had a miscommunication.

“Miscommunication between the goalie and the defense,” Ramirez said. “[Barrientos] a couple of times has been coming out and we’ve been working on that. He’s been coming out of the box too much. But it was just miscommunication between him and the defense. We’ll fix that.”

The Apaches were able to hold on to the 2-1 lead to stay undefeated in district play. Communication was the biggest issue for the Apaches, Ramirez said, and in order for the team to keep moving forward and not take a step back, they’ll continue to work on that part of their game.

Tonight they take on Giddings (1-2) on the road, with kickoff set at 7:15 p.m.

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