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Genell McClendon

Junior Cooper Tea was named midfield player of the year for District 9-6A.

The boy’s varsity soccer season ended with a 0-4 loss to Rockwall Heath in the first round of the playoffs. 

The Mustangs were able to hold the Hawks to only one goal in the first half, but they gave up three more in the second half. Throughout the game, the Mustangs struggled to get anything going on offense and as a result they were not able to score at all during the game. 

In terms of the playoff loss Coach Jacob Bruehl said Rockwall-Heath had the pieces that perfectly shut down the Mustangs.

“Unfortunately, the strengths that the offense had all year played right into the strengths that Rockwall Heath had,” Bruehl said. “We didn’t really handle how much bigger and stronger they were compared to us. Once the game got physical, we weren’t going to be successful.” 

Senior Israel Garcia said the team is proud of their season, but they are disappointed due to not being able to make much noise in the playoffs. 

“The season didn’t go as planned as we obviously didn’t reach the goals we were trying to achieve,” Garcia said. “We definitely could have done better with the great potential we had.”

Coming off of last year’s fourth round exit, senior Jorge Acosta said they hoped the team could have done more. 

“I think every high school athlete’s dream is to win state and we were not able to achieve that during my four years,” according to Acosta. “Now, it is only a big ‘what if’ moment in my life.” The Mustangs were able to finish the season strong despite starting the season with a record of 1-6-3 after their first 10 games. The Mustangs had an overall record of 11-10-3 this year and a 10-4 district record that placed them second in district.

According to Bruel, changes needed to be made mid-season in order to find success. 

“What we had always done was not working, and we made changes with our style of play that we have never done before,” he said. “We had kids that didn’t really have high expectations that showed up, and that was what was the biggest part.”

Several varsity players earned district awards. Players are nominated by their coaches and then voted upon by all soccer coaches throughout the district. 

Senior Noah Jimenez was named Co-Offensive Player of the Year and junior Cooper Tea was named Midfield Player of the Year. 

Seniors Jorge Acosta, Jojo Adoboe and Derek Ramirez made first team all-district. Second team all-district members include seniors Alexis Favela and Nathan Frost, and juniors Haris Dunic and Marc Wilson. Three players made third team all-district with senior Landon Garrison, and juniors Kevin Sotelo and Tanner Tea. 

“This was the first year we struggled in a long time and it was nice to have a reality check,” Bruehl said. “This is going to give us some motivation in the offseason, and we’ve got to do a little more things in order for us to not struggle like this in the future.”