Bryan boys soccer team falls to Horn

Travis Tamez pushed his shootout goal attempt left and bumped the ball forward into the net to give the Mesquite Horn Jaguars a 5-4 shootout victory over the Bryan Vikings in the Class 5A bi-district soccer playoffs at Waco ISD Stadium on Tuesday.

Tamez, Horn's fifth shooter, took his time and got the game-winner past Bryan's charging goalkeeper Abel Gutierrez.

"It was a good goal," Bryan coach Tommie Alllmon said. "Five seconds is a long time."

The victory pushes Horn (11-7-1) into the area round and ends Bryan's season at 13-9-1.

The back-and-forth game seemed destined to come down to the final shot. Bryan led briefly in the shootout when Alejandro Cruz, the Vikings' second shooter, touched the ball twice and scored. Jose Falcon later put his shot between the legs of Horn goalkeeper Brandon Niven for a 4-4 tie. Gutierrez kept it even with a fast-charging stop against of Austin Nance.

Bryan was down a goal in each half and withstood some one-on-one opportunities by Horn to stay in the match.

"Our defensive guys, with Cesario Vasquez, did a great job," Allmon said. "We moved Jose Vega up, and he tied it at 2-2. We created a lot of offensive opportunities and I can't fault anything about the game. We had some chances but just didn't take advantage of all of those chances."

The Vikings scrambled back into a 2-2 tie in the second half thanks to another strong game in goal from Gutierrez and a brilliant pass by Fabian Guerrero. His long lead pass across the field landed in front of Vega, whose running shot hit the back of the net for the equalizer.

It was the answer for a perfectly-played goal from Horn. Matthew McGlaughin took a step toward the goal and slipped a pass just to his right to Jason Machado, who hit the ball straight at Gutierrez. Bryan's keeper layed out to stop the shot, but it bounced over him and in for a 2-1 Horn lead.

Playing with the wind in the opening half, Horn had several good chances early, including two long shots from Machado. The first was blasted from 35 yards but Gonzales made the save on both. The Jaguars scored the goal on a long throw-in that was headed back to Aaron Lopez. He volleyed the ball hard and high into the right corner of the net.

It was the same spot that of the goal that Jose Cortes found with his tying shot for the Vikings, but from a different angle and with a different style. Garcia's shot twisted into the wind, but angled perfectly away from Jaguar goalkeeper Brandon Niven to even the scored at 1-1 with 15:35 left.

Tamez nearly sneaked a second goal for Mesquite Horn on a long free kick. Gutierrez was waiting for it to go wide, but it hit the right post and bounced on to the Bryan keeper. Shaken for a moment, Gutierrez finally pulled the ball in.