Video by Davis DeLoach, KCBY-TV Program Director
Story by John Loop, Sports Writer
For the first time in nine years, the Coppell Cowboy soccer program is right on track to win its second state championship.
Though the team has appeared in the state tournament five times perviously (1999, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006), the postseason have featured recent disappointments.
“It has been incredibly exciting,” senior midfielder Drake Lovelady said. “It is always fun to walk through the halls and have people who you do not really talk to often congratulate you on how you are doing. With the [State 2013] shirts being sold in the cafeteria right now, and seeing people wearing them around, it is really exciting when soccer does not get a lot of support. It is just cool to have that recognition.”
The team will march onto Georgetown’s Birkelbach Stadium on Friday at 4 p.m. and play the Kingwood Mustangs, who have followed a playoff path eerily similar to Coppell’s own journey to another state title. Kingwood is located in the Houston area.
A win puts the Cowboys in the championship match, which is 6 p.m. Saturday at Birkelbach Stadium.
The state semifinal match for the Cowboys comes on the heels of a dramatic victory over Coppell’s greatest rival on the pitch, the Flower Mound Marcus Marauders.
Lovelady, not really known as a scorer, split the Marcus defense and nailed a 12-yard shot in the 64th minute, giving Coppell a 1-0 win in the Class 5A Region I boys final in Birdville ISD Fine Arts/Athletics Complex on Saturday.
“The Marcus game, we knew, was going to be tough,” Lovelady said. “Their gameplan has always been to just be really physical with us and get us off of our game. We knew it was probably going to be a one goal game; it was going to come down to who could make that brilliance happen at that one moment. They hit the post, that was the best chance they got, and we took ours.”
After two consecutive seasons of disappointing bi-district losses to the Hebron Hawks, the Cowboys (21-2-0) beat Hebron in the regional quarterfinals 2-1.
“Hebron was a big one for us,” head coach Chad Rakestraw said. “Especially with the last two years being beat by them, we knew we had some revenge, and luckily we were able to get it in the shoot out.”
Here’s a rundown of the teams that Coppell will and could face this weekend:
Coppell vs. Kingwood: Friday, 4 p.m. @ Georgetown ISD Stadium
The Cowboys have their work cut out for them on Friday afternoon.
Three of the five Mustangs playoff victories have been decided in a penalty shootout.
Senior goal keeper Jack DiSorbo has been red-hot manning the goal during the postseason. DiSorbo halted two penalty kicks in the shootout win over A&M Consolidated during last week’s regional round.
Senior captain and National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-American Joe Decker leads a last line of tall defenders (average height of defender is 6-6) that has allowed only three goals to hit the net in their five playoff matches.
“They supposedly have the best back line in the state of Texas,” Rakestraw said. “They are really similar to the Marcus team, it seems like to me, in the physicality that the scouting reports have given us on them. Our season and the games that have led up to this point have prepared us pretty well
For Coppell, all eyes will be on Drake Lovelady. The senior captain and starting midfielder has taken it upon himself to provide a spark on both ends of the field, scoring four goals in three games to lead Coppell’s playoff scorers.
Also, do not count out junior forward Chris Madden. Coppell’s star striker will look to add to his 12-goal, six assist performance during the regular season on Friday.
Brownsville Hanna vs. Alief Elsik (Houston): Friday, 6 p.m. @ Georgetown ISD Stadium
Both of these teams have climbed tall mountains to get to the state semifinal round.
Brownsville beat San Antonio Northside Jay, 2-0 to advance to this weekend. The Eagles got second half goals from junior Andres Cervantes and senior Carlos Acevedo that propelled them to the state tournament.
Alief Elsik took down Deer Park, 1-0. Senior midfielder Aniekan Williams scored the lone goal of the game.
Knowing that they could potentially accomplish something that could have happened in the past few years in Georgetown this weekend, Rakestraw knows this trip will have a long lasting impact on this program.
“It speaks a lot to our 14 seniors and just the guys we have on our team,” Rakestraw said. “All the hard work they have put in and how determined they have been to make a trip back, to put the program back on the map, you know, where it belongs, is huge. It means a lot for us to get there.”
Streaming Information
Time Warner Cable SportsChannel will provide live television coverage of UIL boys and girls state soccer championships this week from Birkelbach Field in Georgetown, while FOXSportsSouthwest.com will offer live webcasts.
Time Warner Cable SportsChannel is available to Time Warner Cable digital cable customers in Dallas (Channel 185),
