As the match was tied at four, Rockdale’s fifth ever game against rival Cameron came down a sudden death kick, where each team had to select one player to attempt a goal to decide the victor.
For RHS, coach Gilberto Rodriguez called on Tyler Thomas to knock in a goal, which he ended up doing.
As the Tiger goalkeeper, Thomas also made the game-winning save moments later to give Rockdale a 5-4 victory over Cameron and their fifth victory in school history over the Yoemen.
The Big Blue has yet to lose to them in their program’s four-year existence.
Although it was a win, Rodriguez said the Tigers had difficulty finding their game during the evening.
“Cameron was fast and very physical,” he said. “They controlled the game.
“In soccer, you always keep three guys back on defense and your strikers always stay near the goal. But with Cameron, they had 11 guys up, 11 guys down the entire game. It threw us off. I was glad to get out of that game with a win.”
Rodriguez also mentioned that Marvin Mata, Fernando Gonzales, Daniel Rodriguez and Hagen Land made penalty kicks prior to Thomas’s game winner.
LAST WEEK—Earlier in the week, Rockdale fell to undefeated La Grange 4-0.
The Tiger defense didn’t allow any goals in the first half but the Leopards got hot in the second half with two goals early on.
THIS WEEK—RHS hit the road Tuesday to face Giddings. Results will be available in next week’s edition of the Reporter.
They will also hit the road again Friday when they face Caldwell.
The Hornets (1-2 in district play) have been known for being a strong team in the past under coach Marcus Escalante, but are under new direction now.
“ When they had Escalante coaching soccer, they were on it,” Rodriguez said. “He was really good about getting football guys out for soccer but I know he stepped down, so I know it’s an adjustment period over there.”
Rodriguez also talked about what his team has to do going forward.
“We just have to play our game,” he said. “I think we have to get back to what we were doing against Madisonville and Florence before district started.
“Because this Caldwell game is going to be crucial, so we have to get back to playing the way we can play.”
The 2-1 Tigers are scheduled to take the pitch at 7:15 p.m.,Friday at CHS.
LADY TIGERS—The girls played last Tuesday at home in a 6-0 loss to China Spring.
They opened district play this past Tuesday after press time against Giddings on the road.
The girls return home to Tiger Stadium this Friday against La Grange.
Match time is 6 p.m.
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