After a pair of 1st round exits the previous two seasons, this group of Bobcats knew they had to come out of the gates strong on Thursday to change that trend and get over the hump. "We came here ready and excited, the fans gave us a great atmosphere to play in," Joshua Ramos said after the 4-0 win.
Sophomore Lucas Sanchez got the scoring going early in this one, as he gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Freshman Elliott Vazquez made a nice cross on the play to get the assist. Seven minutes later, senior John Gutierrez gave Hope a 2-0 lead after a great pass from Lucas Sanchez. At the halfway mark of the first half, Nathan Sanchez received a nice pass from Aniell Felipe and found the back of the net for a 3-0 Hope lead. Felipe would get in on the scoring as well, adding to the Bobcat lead on an excellent pass from Christopher Alvarado. Hope would lead the game 4-0 at the half and cruise to a win over Warren, advancing in the tournament.
Felipe had this to say after the game, "I missed a big part of the season, coming back to this amazing team just wanted to come out and help get this win." Aniell was injured second game of the year and this was his first game back, as he finished with a goal and an assist.
The defense was lights out on Thursday, as freshman GK Jacob Pacheco posted a clean sheet in his first State Tournament game. Carlos Garcia, Fabian Aguilar, Gio Ruiz, and Dylan Mercado all played great at defender. This is a tough group to score on when they're locked in. Coach Marshall spoke after the game on the effort from his defense, "Two seniors in Carlos and Fabian did a great job along with Gio and Dylan, who all are big parts of our defense, Freshman Goalie Jacob Pacheco had another clean sheet, if they keep playing this way that'll keep us in a lot of games."
With the win, the Bobcats are now just 1 of 8 teams remaining in Class 4A and will play in Bauxite at 12pm on Friday against the winner of Green Forest and Brookland. Great environment on Thursday, as the fans showed up and showed out on the Hope side, per usual, as they continue doing a great job traveling and supporting this group.
