MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Late in his team’s Class AAA quarterfinal match against Science Hill, Howard head soccer coach Jose Otero glanced over at Jaime Roman Pablo and asked if he was ready to go back in the game, to which Pablo quickly acknowledged he was.
Otero quickly sent the junior forward back in, telling him he’d be the only forward before yelling to the rest of the team “Saca Los Bolonas!,” which translates to “do whatever it takes to make sure the other team doesn’t score” as the Tigers were holding onto a 1-0 lead.
“It’s one of the things we do for time management,” Otero said. “It just means to get the balls out, kick them out to the flag, get them out of bounds, whatever.”
It’s a command the Tigers have heard plenty of times throughout the season, as the team rolled into state with a 14-2-1 record. But this is the state tournament, where Howard has never won in two previous tries, which added to the special nature of a simple command reserved for the soccer equivalent of football’s “Victory Formation.”
“We deserve this,” Roman Pablo, who scored the game’s lone goal in the 49th minute, said. “Everyday we practice, everyday we put in the hard work. It took everything.
“We grinded. It was hard, but we did it.”
Otero praised the effort of his 11 seniors, some of which were on the team as freshmen three seasons ago — the last time Howard qualified for state.
“This win goes out to the Howard community, to the Latinos of Howard, of Chattanooga,” Otero said. “We play with heart, and hopefully we can go all the way. We had graduation last week and we won a substate game, and it meant the world for my players to play in front of their families. Our principal, Dr. (Leandra) Ware, told us they were going to get a bus of our students and come up and support us and they did that today.
“That’s what it’s all about — community helping community, and that’s how we win games.”
The Tigers were not the only team to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals, where they will face Ravenwood at 5:30 Eastern. Arts & Sciences had two goals from Eliot Nichols in the first 15 minutes in building a 4-0 halftime lead over STEM Prep in the Class A quarterfinals and cruised to a 5-0 victory. Willem Cooley added a pair of goals and assisted both of Nichols’, while Shrish Sharma added one to help the Patriots move onto Wednesday’s semifinal against Memphis Business at 7:30 Eastern.
“They’ve been wanting this for so long. They’ve been putting the work in and last year really left a sour taste in their mouths,” first-year CSAS coach Ryan Jacobs said, referring to last season’s 3-1 to loss to Gatlinburg-Pittman in the quarterfinals. “It was the senior leadership; they put forth the effort, they push the kids.
“Getting those two quick goals kind of put them on their back heels. Every team has their way they want to do something, and then if you get down a goal or two goals, it kind of puts you in a position where you don’t necessarily get to do what you want to at times and those early goals kind of put them on their heels a little bit.”
Walker Valley, making its first-ever trip to the state tournament, fell 4-0 to Bearden in the Class AAA semifinals.
Private schools begin play Wednesday, with Boyd Buchanan and Notre Dame (Division II-A) kicking off at 2:30 Eastern and McCallie (Division II-AA) starting at 3.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.