Staff reports

BEAUMONT — In a match that saw six combined yellow cards — three of them in overtime — all Bob Hope wanted to find was an edge.

A penalty kick in regulation didn’t hurt.

But Huffman Hargrave found some lucky bounces of its own and beat Bob Hope 5-3 in penalty kicks at the Thomas Center on Friday to advance to the 4A Region III semifinal round in boys soccer. The match was tied at 3-3 through overtime.

The loss ended Bob Hope’s longest playoff run in school history and capped the Eagles’ most successful season at 11-7-1. This was the Eagles’ second but last run at a UIL championship for the foreseeable future, as the school will transition to the Texas Christian Athletic League following this season.

At first, the Eagles were just minutes away from moving on in the UIL playoffs. Then, they gave up two unlikely goals before tying things up in the second 10-minute extra frame.

Huffman connected on all five of its PKs in the shootout. Ricky Perez, who scored an equalizer in the first half, was stopped in the first shootout frame by Huffman’s Adrian Aguas, but Enrique Barrera, Brandon Ramirez and Juan Hernandez connected on the next three Bob Hope tries.

Jackson Landry put the Falcons (20-5) on the board first from 40 yards out at the 18:04 mark of the first half, but a penalty in the box led to Perez’s tying score just 64 seconds later. The score remained 1-1 through the end of regulation, but Bob Hope took some long range shots that sailed just above the crossbar.

Huffman, though, outshot Bob Hope 19-10 on goal, with Bob Hope freshman Imanol Salazar and Aguas each finishing with eight saves.

The Eagles went ahead 2-1 on Gerardo Figueroa’s breakaway with 6:29 left in the first overtime period. Figueroa slid his kick just past Aguas’ right.

Landry knotted the score almost 2 minutes later on a 50-yard free kick. If that wasn’t enough bad luck for Bob Hope, the Eagles did not clear out following a Salazar save and Sebastian Saldivar converted off a rebound with 34.9 seconds left in the period to put the Falcons ahead.

Hernandez went on a fast break and evened the match at 3-3 with 4:46 left in the second overtime.

Huffman will take on Madisonville, a 1-0 winner over Brazosport, in next week’s regional tournament at A&M Consolidated.

 

BASEBALL

Nederland 21, Ozen 0

NEDERLAND — Landon Hiltz, Trenton Simon and Alan Underwood each had two hits, and Nederland completed a 36-0 rout of Ozen in the two-game district series.

Hiltz had a triple, Simon doubled twice and Underwood batted in three runs. Conner Kemp, Colton Hartt and Alex Ortiz combined to ring up 12 strikeouts.

Also Friday, Port Neches-Groves defeated Port Arthur Memorial 14-0 for the second time this week.

SOFTBALL
PNG 27, Memorial 0, 3 inn.

PORT NECHES — The Indians shelled out 30 hits against the Titans on Friday.

Three of them were Brooke Smith’s home runs.

Smith went 4 for 4 — she also tripled — and PNG (15-10-1, 10-1 in 22-5A) nearly recorded a three-inning perfect game with Cameron Niedenthal in the circle. She no-hit Memorial, but PNG committed an error.

Offensively, the Indians were flawless. They doubled 11 times and tripled four.

Rachel Hammersmith, Kasidee Sartin and Kaitlyn Boudreaux each went 4 for 4 for the Indians. Boudreaux tripled three times and drove in seven runs. Hammersmith tripled and doubled to bat in two runs and score four of her own. And Sartin doubled four times, collected two RBI and scored three runs.

Bayja Newby tripled and doubled, Taylor Dominguez doubled twice, and Callie Jourdan and Hannah Denman each had a double.

 

Nederland 15, Ozen 0, 3 inn.

NEDERLAND — Kristan Traxler held Ozen to one hit and struck out five, as Nederland gave her plenty of run support Friday.

And hits.

Hannah Goode and Corley Pompa each went 3 for 3 and scored three runs, as Nederland (16-9-2, 7-3 in 22-5A) totaled 14 hits. Brittany Taylor, Destini Trahan and Leann Keys each had two hits and two runs scored, while Hannah Grumbles and Traxler each lined one hit and scored one run.

Goode, Pompa, Taylor, Trahan, Gumbles and Traxler each batted in two runs.