Playoff boys soccer roundup: Wakeland wins Frisco showdown vs. Lone Star; Plano goalie plays hero

Plano 2, Keller 1 (OT)

MCKINNEY — Tex McCullough flailed his arms on the sidelines, a physical demand for more.

“Wake up,” Plano’s boys soccer coach hollered as his team, tied with Keller in overtime of the 6A Region I championship game on Saturday at McKinney ISD Stadium, was not exhibiting the desired amount of energy.

But when Keller senior Cade Whitmire was fouled in the box in the early minutes of the second overtime, McCullough didn’t shake.

“Dude, we’ve got Henry,” McCullough said. “He’s going to save it.”

Henry Huffstetler, Plano’s senior keeper, did.

The Plano fan section broke into a “Hen-ry, Hen-ry” chant as he pumped his chest, and to McCullough’s pleasure, his team woke up.

Just minutes after Huffstetler’s save, senior forward Christian Cifuentes scored the game-winning goal with over a minute remaining in the first overtime period to lift Plano (18-4-4) over Keller 2-1 and into the 6A state semifinals.

Plano — which hadn’t won a playoff game prior to this season in 10 years — will play for its seventh state championship. Its last came in 2009.

“Almost every playoff game, Henry has changed the momentum for us,” McCullough said. “He’s a special kid.”

Huffstetler guided Plano through a shootout win over Denton Guyer (5-3) in the area round and a shootout win over Allen (4-2) in the regional quarterfinals. Including Saturday’s, Huffstetler has saved five penalty kicks in the playoffs.

“Every time, I just know where they’re going,” Huffstetler said. “There’s something about it, I don’t know.”

Said McCullough: “Henry is a beast, he’s a beast of a keeper.”

The Dallas area’s top-ranked 6A team, Keller (23-3-0) had won 19 consecutive games entering Saturday’s regional final, and for a moment, appeared to be well on its way to No. 20. Keller scored the game’s first goal with 25 minutes left in the second half, as senior Maddox Mallery scored on an assisted free kick from sophomore Matthew Sanchez.

But, nine minutes later, Plano’s Nolan Giles was fouled in the box and converted a penalty kick to tie the game at 1-1. Huffstetler deflected an on-target Keller free kick with 35 seconds left in the game to send it into overtime.

“Every time going into extra time, we know we’re coming out with the win,” Huffstetler said. “We’re always confident, we always keep that positive mindset.”

— Shawn McFarland

Frisco Wakeland 2, Frisco Lone Star 1 (won shootout 4-2)

CARROLLTON — With a chance to go back to the state tournament, there was no one that Frisco Wakeland would rather have had taking the game-deciding penalty kick in a shootout than Brennan Bezdek.

With all of the pressure on, the first-team all-state senior forward calmly stepped up and delivered the winning shot to give the defending Class 5A state champion Wakeland boys soccer team a 4-2 win over Frisco Lone Star in the shootout portion of the Region II final after the rivals played to a 1-1 tie through regulation and two overtime periods on a hot Saturday afternoon at Standridge Stadium.

Despite going a man down just a few minutes into the second half after a player received his second yellow card, Wakeland (24-5-1) advanced to the state tournament for the sixth consecutive postseason (there were no playoffs in 2020 because of the pandemic) and for the eighth time overall.

“We’ve been practicing PKs for the last month,” said Bezdek, who was The Dallas Morning News All-Area Player of the Year last season. “I’ve been on the team four years, I’ve gone to a state final every year. I needed to step up.”

Bezdek has been a force in the postseason, scoring twice in Friday’s regional semifinal after scoring in six of Wakeland’s seven playoff games last year, including the state final. He said he’s used to pressure-packed shootout kicks, having taken one in a national semifinal in club soccer.

Wakeland has won four state titles, tied with San Antonio Churchill for second-most in UIL history, trailing only the six state championships won by Plano. Wakeland won it all in 2010, 2017, 2018 and 2021, and now with a roster that includes 22 seniors, Wakeland is two wins from another state championship.

Wakeland also got shootout goals from first-team all-state defender Micah Kelley, Hazani Torres and Evan Lupo. Wakeland goalkeeper Bradley Shreve stopped one shot in the shootout, and Lone Star missed a second shot that hit the outside of the post.

“Lone Star is extremely talented. Going down a man made it that much tougher,” Wakeland coach Andy Holt said. “But our guys responded extremely well and battled. We tried to get ourselves in a shootout situation going down a man, and ultimately we did it. The guys made some big plays.”

Lone Star (21-2-3) was trying to reach the state tournament for the first time and was trying to join Wakeland and Frisco as the only Frisco ISD teams to ever make it to state. Lone Star had never won a playoff game before this season, losing in the first round in its three previous trips to the postseason in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

“They are arguably the best team in the state,” Bezdek said of Lone Star. “They outplayed us and they outworked us. We just had some grit. That’s how we got out of it.”

It didn’t take Wakeland long to open the scoring, as first-team all-state midfielder Ryan Greener scored from right in front of the goal less than two minutes into the match off a short pass by William Heidman that deflected off a Lone Star defender and went right to Greener. Heidman had to leave the game after going down hard with 26:27 left in the first half, but he returned for the second half.

Lone Star tied it 1-1 with 15:03 left in the first half as Blake Humphrey scored on a rebound after a long blast by Aubry Eason was deflected on a diving save by Shreve. Wakeland then had a chance to score in the final seconds of the half, as a long throw-in by Riley Garza found Lupo at the back post, but Lupo’s header went wide.

With the wind at its back, Wakeland had four great scoring chances late in the second half, starting with a shot by Bezdek that hit the post and stayed out with under nine minutes left. Less than two minutes later, a long pass hit Greener in stride, but his shot went wide. With less than 3:30 left, a shot by Torres hit the crossbar, and a couple of minutes later a long shot by Kelley was stopped by a diving save by Lone Star goalkeeper Matt Trouy.

Lone Star had the best two scoring chances in the second overtime period, but a header by Tucker Eason was saved by Shreve, and Ivan Villatoro put a shot high with the goalkeeper out of position.

Lone Star won only two games last season, but one of the victories was against Wakeland. That was the only loss for Wakeland as it finished 24-1-1 and won the 5A state title.

Lone Star made it three straight wins over Wakeland by winning both of their district matchups this season, 2-1 and 2-0, en route to claiming the District 9-5A title.

— Greg Riddle

Fort Worth Trimble Tech 3, Grapevine 2: Trimble Tech jumped to a 3-1 halftime lead and held on to knock off Grapevine 3-2 in the Class 5A Region I final at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls. Grapevine (27-1-2), the top-ranked team in The Dallas Morning News’ Class 5A/Others area poll, suffered its only loss of this season and was denied its first state tournament appearance since 1997. Trimble Tech (29-3-1) advances to state for the first time.

Celina 2, Nevada Community 0 (OT): Seth Brown scored both goals in overtime while Kohyn Gough had an assist in Celina’s victory over District 11-4A rival Community in the Class 4A Region II final at Rose Stadium in Tyler. Celina (21-3-1) repeats as region champion. Community (20-3-2) was 0-2-1 against Celina this season and was denied its first state tournament appearance.

— Rick Kretzschmar

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