Farmersville sophomore Gustavo Ramos jumps in the air to head the ball to a teammate during a Class 4A Division II bi-district playoff game from Raider Stadium in Sunnyvale on Thursday, March 20. Sunnyvale won 3-2. Photo by Victor Tapia / C&S Media
By David Wolman
SUNNYVALE – After Farmersville junior Daniel Mendoza scored a goal to bring the Farmers to within one goal of Sunnyvale, he ran to the goal, picked up the ball and ran towards the center of the field.
It was his way of encouraging his Farmers teammates to play with a sense of urgency.
Farmersville picked up its play following Mendoza’s strike. But for as hard as Farmersville tried to net the equalizer, the Farmers couldn’t get another goal past Raiders junior goalkeeper James Jacob in a 3-2 loss in a Class 4A Division II bi-district playoff game from Raider Stadium last Thursday.
“It was a hard-fought game,” said Barrett Clark, Farmersville head coach. “We missed a couple of goals by inches. They got us on one goal by an inch. It was an 80-minute war today.”
A rematch of a Jan. 13 game that Sunnyvale won 3-0, Farmersville survived an early onslaught from the Raiders thanks to timely saves from sophomore goalkeeper Jairo Acosta.
Acosta came out of his net and made a sliding save in the early going and midway through the opening half of play denied junior Christian Hodges a goal with a save in a one-on-one scoring chance.
“He stopped two breakaways in the first half,” Clark said. “He had a great game.”
A few minutes after Acosta’s save on Hodges, Farmersville took a 1-0 lead.
The speed of junior Daniel Mendoza generated a scoring chance for the Raiders. He kicked the ball from the right side of the field to Jacob, who made a diving save. However, Jacob was not able to recover. The ball bounced off Jacob’s fingertips and fell at the feet of junior Fernando Hernandez, who kicked in an easy tap-in with 24:05 remaining in the first half.
Hernandez’s goal was the first playoff goal in the history of the Farmersville soccer program. The Farmers were making their first-ever postseason appearance Thursday.
For more on this story see the March 27, 2025 print, or digital edition of The Farmersville Times. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.
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