Varsity kickers open district with win

Members of the varsity soccer squad are Colton Strother, Justin Seal, Troy Coffee, Robby Downs, Howard Rodriguez, Drew Dollahite, Cameron Cooper, Caleb Jacque, Chris Parker, Chris Carter, Shawn Morris, Paul Metzner, Kevin Wilkens, Ace Estrella, Payne Stinchfield, Kerry Darnell, Jed McNeill, Justin Parker, Mitchell Muller and Eric O'Neill. Head coach is Chris Clemons.

Ranked number nine in their region, Whitehouse played host to fifth-ranked Athens for the district opener Tuesday night, pulling out a 2-1 win in double overtime.

The game moved at a slow pace with only two shots on goal for each team in the first half. Athens scored first when a shot deflected off goalkeeper Justin Parker and went just over the line to give Athens the 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the first half.

Coach Chris Clemons' halftime speech must have fired the Cats up because the players came out stronger and moved the ball better than the first half, outshooting Athens but not able to score until Paul Metzner found Caleb Jacque in front of the goal with just 17 seconds on the clock, and he was able to put the ball around the Athens keeper to tie the game.

Members of the junior varsity soccer squad are Trey McNeal, Jacob McCasland, Ivan Perez, Wes Holt, Danny Bender, Tyler Bloom, Taylor Burns, Marco Hernandez, Scott Parsons, Constantin Abel, Bubba Williams, Tanner Hayes, Ricky Hernandez, Colton Strother, Omar Gutierrez, Travis Lowthorp, Austin Alvis, Umer Shakaut, Chris Medlin and Daniel Peek.

The game went into overtime and with 1:28 left in the second OT period, Metzner was able to break to the middle of the field at the top of the goal box and made two quick moves to get a shot off that went into the upper 90 of the net, giving Whitehouse their first district win of the season.

"We had a higher power looking out for us tonight," said Coach Clemons after the game. He said he told the team at half "we need this game," and his team responded.

Wildcat JV 1, Athens 2

In the junior varsity contest, Athens came out strong in the first half scoring two goals in the first 20 minutes, with Whitehouse only taking one shot on goal the first half.

The Cats started the second half much stronger, and with 9:58 remaining in the game, Taylor Burns took a corner kick and, aided by the strong wind, put it into the goal to put Whitehouse on the board.

Neither team was able to score again, and the Cats lost 1-2.

The next district contest is tomorrow at Lindale.

--Reported by Mark Hays