AHSAA State Soccer Semifinals: Russellville wins in double overtime

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Russellville High School junior midfielder Yamilson Velasquez drilled a kick into the corner of the net in the second overtime to life the Golden Tigers to a 3-2 win over Crossville in the AHSAA Class 4A/5A boys’ soccer semifinals here at John Hunt Soccer Complex Thursday night.

Velaquez’s powerful kick signaled the end to one of the best played matches in recent AHSAA state soccer tourney history. Crossville (16-3-0), coaches by Isaac Dismuke, took a 1-0 lead early when Rodolfo Balcazar scored on an assist from Alan Balcazar at 24:25 of the first half to take a 1-0 lead.

Russellville (19-2-1) tied the match 11 minutes into the second half on the first of two goals by senior forward Juan Cano. Both goals came two minutes apart to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Rogelio Ramirez tied the match on a penalty kick at the 60:31 mark and the match moved into overtime.

The Tigers, coached by Trey Stanford, will play in the championship match versus Indian Springs (20-2-5) Friday at 5 p.m. The title match will be live-streamed over the NFHS Network’s subscriber-based platform with the Huntsville City Schools ETV team, led by Jonathan Crowe, producing all finals. All AHSAA soccer finals will be live-streamed over the NFHS Network’s subscriber-based network.

Other Semifinal Results:

CLASS 1A/3A GIRLS

Whitesburg Christian (14-5-1) 2, Mars Hill Bible (12-6-0) 1

CLASS 1A/3A BOYS

Collinsville (19-7-0) 2, Mars Hill Bible (16-8-1) 0

CLASS 4A/5A GIRLS

East Limestone (20-3-0) 2, Westbrook Christian (19-4-0) 0