With a tie game, the opportunity to advance to the next round was shrinking, until senior Carlos Ponce put away a penalty kick; allowing Pebble Hills to defeat Eastwood 2-1 and clinch a berth in the championship match.

Down by one early in the first half, right wing Luis Flores converted on a scoring attempt on a fast break where he only had the goalie to beat, and his shot was placed right above the goalie and dipped right under the crossbar, giving the Spartans a renewed sense of confidence and a tie game. It was Flores that helped set the trend for the team. They seemed to respond and were not going to be denied a win.

With only 20 minutes remaining in the final half of the game, a hustle play deep in Eastwood territory from center attacking midfielder Luis Gonzalez forced an Eastwood defender to slide tackle him to deny a goal, leading to a penalty call. The stadium was silent as Carlos Ponce stepped forward to take the shot.

“The penalty was very important, as it gave us a pass to the final,” midfielder Carlos Ponce said.

A strong kick to the opposite side of the defending goalie gave the Spartans a lead late in the game. Despite the heavy pressure put on the Spartans afterwards by the Troopers, the Spartans held their lead in a closely contested match until the last whistle.

“We never stopped putting in effort,” Gonzalez said. “Even though we got the result we wanted, we should have won by a lot more. We just have to never give up and play as a team to continue getting results.”

For the second time in two days, the Spartans have outlasted their opponent. Putting back-to-back performances to merit wins is tough in any sport, but even more so in tournament play. The Spartans have had success in tournaments prior to the start of the season.

This time last year, the Spartans were playing for a tournament championship against El Dorado at the SISD Student Acitivies Complex. After a heartbreaking loss in penalty kicks, captain Brian Rodarte feels that it helped them become a better team. Rodarte remembers the feeling of defeat from the game that meant everything to them, a championship game, and uses it as motivation to push him during his senior season.

“We need to play harder and play as a team,” Rodarte said. “No matter how hard the game is we are always going to be a team. We don’t want what happened last year. This is our last year and we want to give it our all and win it.

Almost a year later and they are in another championship match. 

The Spartans continue their quest for their first tournament championship as they head on the road Saturday at 4:00 p.m in the Canutillo tournament final.