Boys soccer team clinches district championship

The Marble Falls High School boys soccer team earned two huge wins that keep the Mustangs in posi - tion to finish the District 254A campaign undefeated. The Mustangs (17-21, 9-0) defeated Jarrell 5-0 March 5 and Florence 3-0 March 1 to clinch the dis - trict title.

It's the Mustangs' sec - ond time to win this district championship. Last year they shared it with Austin Achieve. Against Jarrell, Mar - ble Falls got two goals from Ivan Espino and one from Garrett Goggans, Diego Mata and Kash Bussaraporn. Anderson Mazariegos had two assists, while Bussaraporn, Goggans and Mata each had one.

Marble Falls scored all three goals against Florence early in the first half.

Espino scored a goal and had two assists, while Esteban Dominguez added a goal and an assist. Jett Marcum scored the final goal.

The quick lead allowed head coach Rick Hoover options on the line-up.

“We’re coming off a long season, we’re getting ready for a break,” he said. “Florence plays on a grass field that's narrow and not in great shape. So we wanted to sub everybody pretty early.”

As happy as the coach was with the win, he was more impressed with the Mustangs’ intense defense.

“I’ve been singing their song,” he said. “They really did a good job. I don’t think they had a legitimate shot to score. I’m not sure they had one. A big part of that is because of how well our defense played.”

The Mustangs have allowed three goals in district play, 15 this season. Meanwhile, they have scored 88 goals.

“Offense gets a lot of credit,” Hoover said. “I like to point our our defensive guys. They’ve had a phenomenal year.”

Hoover noted the Buffs looked different than from the first round.

"Florence was signifi cantly improved,” he said. “I told their coaches, ‘Defensively, your guys have gotten extremely better.’” Marble Falls travels to play at Jarrell with the junior varsity taking the field at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity to follow.