Bulldogs nip Marshall
Win jumbles up standings; Lady Bulldogs get win, too; both off Friday
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

HUGE WIN - Kilgore's Oscar Davilla (7) controls the ball as a Marshall defender presses him. Davilla and the Bulldogs defeated the Mavericks 2-1 on Tuesday night, and are right in the thick of the District 17-4A playoff race.

Things are about to get jumbled - perhaps even more than they already are - in the boys soccer standings in District 17-4A.

Hard-charging Kilgore is coming on strong, and gave the standings a good shake Tuesday night with a 2-1 win over Marshall here at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.

The win - Kilgore's third in four games - didn't tie the Bulldogs for third place. Marshall still owns third place by one game over KHS and Chapel Hill, tied for fourth. But it does create an interesting effect.

Marshall faces Pine Tree, one of the district leaders, on Friday. Kilgore has an open date, then visits PT on Monday night. Chapel Hill faces Whitehouse on Friday, and still has to face district-leading Lindale.

Kilgore needs to keep winning, and have Marshall and Chapel Hill lose as many times as possible in the remaining four games.

Still, coach Kris Duplissey was very pleased with the fire his team has shown in the last

two weeks.

"We're definitely playing better," Duplissey said. "We were up and down, and now we're consistently playing better."

Kilgore got both of its goals Tuesday night from one of the team's leaders, Will Estel. Estel scored on a shot from about 16 yards out with about 12 minutes left in the first half to give KHS a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs took that lead into halftime.

Marshall scored what would be its only goal of the night less than three minutes into the second half.

It looked very much like the Bulldogs and Mavericks were going into overtime, but Estel would have none of it. He scored off an assist by Garrett Fields with 7:51 left, putting the pressure on the Mavericks. With a few saves from goalie Everardo Delmas and good defense by the rest of the team, Kilgore held on for the victory.

As mentioned, Kilgore's open date is Friday, and due to TAKS testing, the Bulldogs' Tuesday game at Pine Tree has been moved to Monday, a 5:30 p.m. junior varsity start.

Speaking of JV, coach Joey Pippen's JV squad tied Marshall Tuesday, 2-2. Kilgore is 10-1-1 in JV district play this season, just outstanding.

• Kilgore 4, Marshall 1 (girls): Coach Amanda Walzel brought her Lady Bulldogs home with a victory, too.

Carmen Rios scored the only goal between the two teams in the first half off an assist by Vallery Rodriguez, and then got some scoring support in the second half. Marshall tied the game at 1, and then Suzie Espinoza gave the Lady 'Dogs the lead for good with her goal, putting KHS up 2-1. Sara Stewart added to the Bulldogs' total, making it 3-1 Kilgore, and Kandace Shackleford scored the final goal of the night, wrapping up the win.

Coach Alice Crocker's JV won, too, 2-1 - the Lady Bulldogs' JV has lost just twice in the district schedule.

Like the boys, the girls have an open date Friday, and their schedule is also affected by the TAKS testing. Instead of playing Tuesday, the Lady 'Dogs will also play on Monday here against Pine Tree, a 5:30 p.m. JV start.