Red Demons end regular-season with 3-0 win over Liberal
By Shelton Burch
Courtesy of Dodge Globe Sports Editor
The Dodge City Red Demons boys soccer team finished its regular season strong on Thursday, beating Liberal High School 3-0 in Liberal, Kansas.
The win moved the Red Demons to 14-2 overall, and 8-0 in conference-play this season.
Dodge City seniors Mario Martinez, Joshua Donjuan and Cesar Alvarez all scored in the victory for the Red Demons.
The win earned them a No. 2 seed in the 6A Regional bracket. They’ll play Hutchinson on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
The victory over Liberal came after consecutive loses by the team. Head coach Saul Hernandez said the team bounced back
after the second one.
“The intensity was higher, the intensity was back, the fire in their bellies was back, and you could tell from the beginning that they wanted it,” Hernandez said. “It was a 180 from their attitudes and efforts from the previous two games and that’s what we needed. We needed a strong game before going into the postseason.”
In particular, the seniors played well, Hernandez said.
“The seniors really took the leadership and they controlled the game and you could tell that they wanted it,” Hernandez said.
Execution-wise, the team also played well.
“Our passing was onpoint,” Hernandez said. “We still struggled in the final-third,
especially in the first half, but I think some of it carried over (from previous games) and then in the second half they fixed what we needed to fix and we scored two quick goals in the second half.”
The team, Hernandez said, is starting to get back into its rhythm, and the win was timed well.
“It’s really good for us, because we were on a twogame losing streak and the pressure was mounting on us,” Hernandez said. “‘Are we just gonna lose out the rest of the season?,’ that might have been some thoughts. But on Wednesday we kind of went over ‘Hey let’s forget about the last two games, let’s move forward and let’s do what we need to do to keep on that advancing.’ And the boys really showed positive attitude.”
