San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Buffaloes salvage draw with 2nd-half rally
The Clemens Buffaloes rallied from a two-goal deficit to salvage a 2-2 draw against the Steele Knights on Friday in a physical District 27-6A boys soccer match at Steele.
Clemens (12-8-1, 9-0-1) scored both of its goals in the last 24 minutes of the match after Steele (12-2-4, 6-1-3) took a 2-0 lead 10 minutes into the second half.
Darriyn Morales put Steele up 1-0 on a penalty kick at the 20:32 mark of the first half, a lead which held up at intermission. The Knights extended their lead to 2-0 when Chase Johnson scored on a header, set up by the corner kick from Andres Gutierrez, with 30:56 remaining in the second half.
The Buffaloes started their comeback at the 26:01 mark of the second half, when sophomore midfielder Gavin Kotara scored a goal off a deflection. Then at the 11-minute mark, Jake Minyard booted a free kick from 25 yards — with some help from the wind — that went into the left side of the net for the gametying goal.
The 27-6A finale between the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD schools was very physical and chippy at times, with players from both teams getting injured or banged up. Three minutes into the match, Edgar Govea, one of Clemens’ top scorers, had to be helped off the field after rolling his ankle, according to Clemens coach Myles Salas.
“It’s a rivalry game and those kind of things happen when you’re playing against your rival,” Salas said. “Everyone wants to win so badly that things get a little bit more physical and a little bit more heated.”
After a non-district match against Smithson Valley on Tuesday, the Buffaloes will head into the Class 6A playoffs, which start March 25, having won their fifth straight district crown. Clemens is in the playoffs for the 18th consecutive season.
With the 27-6A title already wrapped up, Salas managed the match with an eye toward the looming playoffs.
“We definitely got behind in the first half,” Salas said. “We made a lot of rotations trying to make sure that we didn’t get any injuries going into the playoffs. We wanted to make sure we were healthy, as much as we wanted to win this game, it was more trying to protect ourselves going forward. They (Clemens) showed a lot of resilience and heart, continuing to play, pushing forward in the second half.”
Before Friday’s match, Clemens had beaten Steele nine times in a row dating back to 2019. The tie also halted the Buffaloes 10game winning streak this season, which began after Clemens started the season at 2-8. That winning streak also included a 2-1 win over Steele in February.
Steele finished the regular season as the district runner-up and is making its fourth straight trip to the postseason.
Steele coach Jason Burnett said the physical nature of the match seemed to energize his team.
“Once you get a little bit of proverbial blood in the water, we needed that energy to rise and it was kind of feeling flat,” Burnett said. “My boys play better when they start feeling that energy, that sparks them up again. So, it was good that they did get a couple of goals on us just to realize, ‘Hey, let’s play this game.’ ”
Burnett said the Knights are hoping to get past the first round of the playoffs this season after losing to Reagan 1-0 last year in the opening round in the final seconds.
“Those first two rounds (of the playoffs), those are tough rounds coming out of this district for anybody,” Burnett said. “It’s a challenge.”