Lions roar to victory over North despite disadvantage

Monday’s intra-city rivalry match between McKinney High and McKinney North had all the expected drama: fierce play on both sides, a red card on the field, and a come-from-behind win. Providing the theatrics was a Lions squad that managed to overcome a second-half deficit in both goals and player count to best the Bulldogs with a 3-2 final. Lions head coach Alan Pocock said it was another rollercoaster ride for his team, but that there’s never another kind of cross-town showdown.

“That’s the nature of the beast with those matches,” he said.

McKinney had a 1-0 lead heading into halftime, courtesy of a goal from junior Grant Sigler off an assist by junior captain Conrod Goulbourne, but Pocock said that what looked like a manageable second half turned into a nightmare when a Lions defender was red carded and North went on the attack, tying the game and then taking the lead in rapid succession.

“I was faced with having to pull an attacker, drop a defender,” he said. “In sorting that out, within a few minutes North had evened the game up. They put in a loose ball we didn’t clear and then moments later a ball that our defender miscommunicated about.”

Sophomore Jacob Diaz and senior Miguel Rodriguez were responsible for the Bulldogs scores.

Pocock said that being down a player and shuffling the lineup rattled the Lions defenders and allowed North to tie it up. With his team down, 2-1 he decided to change strategies and put his team back on the attack.

“At that point we could have sat with the same system and tried to take it to a shootout, but with this team, this year and last year my gut is to try to go for the win, even if we’re a man down,” he said. “So I made a substitution to get [freshman] Stanton Garcia in. The kid plays with a tremendous amount of energy and enthusiasm, and he’s very well respected by the varsity, but really he’s no different than 17 other players on varsity in that it’s their first varsity season.”

And though Garcia had been called up to varsity only two weeks prior, he proved to be just the man for the job, as he notched a goal in the 67th minute after snagging a ball down the line and getting the better of a 1-v-1 showdown with the keeper.

After tying the game the Lions slid into the win off a goal from sophomore Derrick Horvath, with Goulbourne again providing the assist, which put McKinney up 3-2 with eight minutes remaining. Still down a man, they managed to hold onto the lead against a Bulldogs squad disheartened by giving up two goals to a crippled opponent.

With this win, the Lions continued a streak of victories against North, who Pocock said has only beat McKinney once and tied once in 12 meetings, though he added that at half he thought this game would turn into their second win of the cross-town series.

“For this young team to continue that tradition,” he said. “I’m really proud of them.”

McKinney drops first district loss to Little Elm

Tuesday night saw the Lions suffer their first district loss of the season when the Lobos bested them 2-0. The score was tied at nothing going into the half, but Little Elm notched a pair of goals to give McKinney its fourth district loss in four years time. The Lions now hold the No. 2 spot in the district 9-4A standings with a 2-1 record.

The Lions next play at home on Friday where they face Denison for a 7:15 p.m. kickoff.

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