Patriots secure school’s fifirst berth in fifinal
Four-year-old program to face Lufkfkin in Class 5A boys championship game.
A rout turned into a close call on Thursday night, but East View still moved within one win of the history books.
Three Patriots contributed four goals and East View held off Clint Horizon in a Class 5A boys semifinal game at the Georgetown school district’s Birkelbach Field. The 4-2 victory made East View a winner in its debut at the state soccer tournament.
East View becomes only the fourth Austin-area boys soccer team to qualify for one of the University Interscholastic League’s championship games. Westlake (1983), Travis (2000) and McNeil (2011) previously fell short in their quests for gold.
East View could earn a championship for its four-year- ol d school’s trophy case at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Patriots’ final hurdle will be
Lufkin, which earned a 1-0 win over Tomball Memorial.
“This is like a dream,” East View goalkeeper Brendan Soto said. “Three years coming to watch all these teams play (in the state tournament), and now we’re finally playing in it. It’s amazing.”
The designated home team on rival Georgetown High’s campus, East View quickly made itself comfortable against a Horizon team that had made a 560-mile trip from El Paso.
East View landed its first punch with 29 minutes, 54 seconds left in the first half when senior Tommy Ketterhagen scored on a header off of a teammate’s free kick. Ten minutes later, senior Leonel Jaramillo turned a Horizon turnover into his 21st goal of the season.
With goals by its two leading scorers in hand, East View coasted into halftime with a 2-0 advantage. The Patriots then gained a three-goal edge when junior Dillon Luterek found the net less than five minutes into the second half.
East View wasn’t allowed much time to celebrate its large lead, though. Clint Horizon got scores from juniors Michael Bermudez and Mike Cruz before the 22-minute mark, and the Scorpios were suddenly within a goal.
“I feel like we got a little confident, which made them score (and) gave them a little confidence,” Jaramillo said. “We didn’t like that, but we’re going to pick it up. It’s not going to happen Saturday.”
East View stopped the bleeding on Ketterhagen’s second goal with 18:30 left, and the Scorpions were unable to sting again.
“We started off slow in the second half,” Soto said, “but once we picked it up, we scored another goal and I felt confident in myself and the rest of my guys.”
East View remained unbeaten with its squelching of the Scorpions, and the Patriots will return to the Georgetown ISD Athletic Complex on Saturday with a 26-0-1 record. A 27th victory will have to come at the expense of a Lufkin program that improved to 25-2-1 on Thursday.
Clint Horizon closed out its 2015 season with an 18-9 record.