Palo Duro celebrates after getting a thrilling win against El Paso Bowie, 4-3, in a Class 5A regional quarterfinal Friday at Midland’s Grande Communication Stadium. [Provided photo]
By Michael Baur
For Press Pass Sports
MIDLAND— Palo Duro’s Jaime Carrillo struck at just the right time for the Dons to give his team a 4-3 win over El Paso Bowie in the Class 5A regional quarterfinal Friday night at Grande Communications Stadium.
The victory was historic for the Dons program as they advance to the regional semifinal for the first time since 2009, and will now take on
Colleyville Heritage (19-4-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Abilene Wylie.
With 39 seconds left, Carrillo scored off a free kick from just outside the box to give the Dons victory.
“This was a huge win not just for the soccer program but for Palo Duro High School as well,” Johnson said. “The boys have worked their tails off to get to where we are, and we are going continue to ride this wave of momentum that we’re on. The boys deserve this.”
Palo Duro moved to 20-1-1 overall while Bowie fell to 17-4-1.
The game started off in Palo Duro’s favor as the Dons created a couple of opportunities which included a corner kick by Eduardo Aguire in the first half.
The set piece didn’t lead to a goal but the Dons were getting comfortable with the ball.
Palo Duro was able to strike first when Jamie Carrillo was brought down inside the box for a penalty and Aguirre didn’t disappoint when he took the shot, giving the Dons a 1-0 lead with 20:41 left in the first half.
The Dons doubled their lead soon after when Carrillo scored to give the visitors a 2-0 lead with 2:45 left until halftime.
Bowie was able to fight back in the second half and with 30:53 left in regulation, the Bears got on the board with a goal by Israel Reyes.
Carrillo added a second goal to give the Dons a 3-1 lead with 25 minutes remaining.
However, the two-goal lead didn’t last as the Bears needed less than 3 minutes to tie things up.
Less than a minute after Aguirre’s goal, the Bears got one back with a goal by Ever Sosa and Bowie was only down by one.
Then. a minute later, Reyes made it 3-3 with his goal with 24 minutes left.
With the clock winding down, it looked like the game was going to extra time before Carrillo worked his magic for one final goal.