by BOB SAX
Special Correspondent
to the Forney Messenger

The Forney High School Varsity Soccer Rabbits charged to a spot in the UIL playoffs last week with victories over Royse City and Kaufman.  It is the first time the Boys Varsity Soccer Club has made the playoffs since the inception of the program in 2005.

The Royse City Bulldogs came to City Bank Stadium on the 10th looking for some playoff magic of their own.  But the Rabbits would have none of it, as both Blake Withrow and Tucker Burke picked up goals in the first 13 minutes.  Blake had fought through a couple of Bulldogs for his score, while Tucker converted a penalty kick.  Chase Withrow picked up a beautiful pass from Tucker and Brendan Vickery in the 23rd minute, and popped an aspirin tablet into the net.  The half ended with a 3-0 Forney lead, as the Rabbits had pumped 16 shots at the Bulldog keeper.

The second half saw Rabbit coach Kris Duplissey make wholesale substitutions to rest his regulars. Cole Hamilton and John Gonzales made the most of their opportunities, with both midfielders finding the mark.  Cole made a nice run through a little bit of traffic for his score in the 66th minute, while John took a beautiful throw in from Chase Withrow and one-timed it into the net in the 72nd minute. The horn sounded a few minutes later and Rabbit keeper Austin Walker had registered a 5-0 shut out.

Friday the 13th (again!) brought the Kaufman Lions to City Bank Stadium for the regular season finale with our Rabbits.  It had rained all day and there was some concern that the game might not be played at all.  The JV contests in Kaufman had been rained out.  But Lions Stadium is natural grass and of course, we have synthetic turf at City Bank.  The Varsity girls got there game in at 5:30 and so the stage was set for a game that the boys had to win to advance to the playoffs.  

The Rabbits began the contest aggressively.  In the 14th minute, Blake Withrow collided with one of the Lion defenders, who went down in a heap.  No whistle sounded, but the Kaufman keeper instinctively started to walk over to his fallen teammate as did another defender.  Blake, meanwhile, knowing full well that no whistle had been blown, lofted a lovely ball over the startled Lion defenders and into the open net! Blake’s vigilance paid off with a 1-0 FHS lead. The rest of the half was a defensive affair with the Lions putting only 6 shots on goal to the Rabbits 4.  The score remained 1-0 at the horn.

The second half began in earnest as both clubs sought to control the play.  In the 49th minute, John Gonzales found a seam in the Kaufman defense.  They collapsed late and it looked like John would take a shot himself.  But at the last second, he found a streaking Alex Dyson in a better position and so John deftly slid a cupcake of a ball that Alex buried in the net!  2-0 Rabbits.  It looked like the Rabbits could just coast the rest of the way, but the Lions got a lucky break in the 58th minute and made the most of it.  Luis Venegas was leading an attack towards the Rabbit goal, when he launched a very savable shot towards keeper Austin Walker.  But FHS defender Toby Elery had an idea to clear the ball and got just a small part of his foot on it.  That changed the direction of the ball and it went past Austin for a Lion score.  Forney still up 2-1, but the Rabbits began playing tentatively while the Lions were going full out for the equalizer.  And as fate would have it, they found it with 2 minutes left in the game, as Josh Hobbs took a turnover and made the Rabbits pay with a nice goal that Austin really had no chance at.  2-2 as regulation ended.   And again—the inevitable shoot out.

The Rabbits had been practicing shoot outs all week and felt prepared.  Raul Ortiz put every one at ease as he buried his attempt for FHS.  Rabbit keeper Austin Walker stopped the first 3 Lion attempts, before Jody Fregia connected in the 4th round. But Chase Withrow answered with a brilliant goal and the Rabbits were one save away from the playoffs.  Austin answered the call by stoning the 5th and last Kaufman shooter, giving the Rabbits the victory.  Playoffs at last!

The Rabbits will have a bye during the first round of the playoffs and will not play their first game until Tuesday the 24th. Opponent and site to be determined.  Hopefully the game particulars will be posted on the high school web site and we can get a big crowd out to see the first Boys’ soccer playoff game in school history.