The El Campo Ricebird soccer team closed out the scrimmage portion of their schedule with a win over the Sealy Tigers last Tuesday night at home.
It wasn’t a game, but the Ricebirds outscored the Tigers 2-1 with goals from junior forward Raymond Moreno and senior midfielder Alexis Salazar.
Sealy last season went two rounds deep in the playoffs.
Moreno scored towards the end of the first half, after a pass he made it into the goalie’s box. He struck the ball with his right foot, just in front of a sliding Sealy tackle. The ball beat the goal for the score. In the closing seconds of the first half, he nearly got a second goal, putting his head on a cross inside the goal, but the keeper got to the ball and turned it away.
El Campo got their second goal in the second half. Ricebird junior midfielder Nick Montes was fouled inside the penalty box, giving El Campo a penalty kick. Salazar took the kick and scored.
Ricebird coach Audie Jackson has been happy with what he’s seen during El Campo’s two scrimmages this season.
“There’s a lot to like,” Jackson said. “This is a great group of kids. Completely unselfish and will do anything to help the team. I mean we’ve had kids play two or three different positions in a scrimmage and will do it without hesitation. (The overall) effort has been good.”
With a team full of returners, Jackson has seen that the team has been able to make quick adjustments during games.
“We are playing differently than last year and we’re coaching on the fly on how to play this way and the kids respond incredibly,” Jackson said. “We tell them to do something and they immediately get it fixed and are extremely coachable. It’s going to be a fun year.”
El Campo won’t start district play until late January. Before district, they’ll play in three tough tournaments, up first, the Willis tournament starting on Jan. 5.
“(We’re) going to get tested early in some tournaments by some 5A and 6A teams so it’s going to be fun to see how we approach it and see how we match up,” Jackson said.
El Campo last season finished district in fourth place.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.