By Brannon King / For the FCT

The Russellville High School boys and girls soccer teams both have playoffs on their minds as the second regular season in school history heads into the home-stretch.

Last year in their first season, the boys made their way into the 4A-5A bracket and advanced deep into the playoffs, while the girls struggled to find consistent success. This year, both teams look to be in good shape to make their way into the postseason after home wins by the squads Thursday night over the West Limestone Wildcats.

In the first match of the evening, the RHS girls won by a 2-0 score over West Limestone. Juana Juarez scored the game’s first goal midway through the first half when she took a good pass and scored on a breakaway goal.

The RHS defense played well, especially near the end of the half, when they kept West Limestone off the scoreboard. Russellville keeper Briana Ramirez was in control and made a save on a corner kick with two minutes left in the half for a big stop.

Esthela Martinez scored the game’s second goal with 21:23 remaining in the contest. Russellville needed to beat the Wildcats by two goals to put themselves in good shape for a playoff spot because of tiebreaker rules, and they did just that.

The two top teams in each area make the playoffs, and with East Limestone holding first place, RHS and West Limestone are in a close battle for the last spot.

Head coach Trey Stanford said he was excited about the result of the game, and he was quick to give credit to the girls and assistant head coach Fred Ambrosio. “Fred and our girls have done an outstanding job, and they’ve worked hard,” Stanford said. “We set a goal tonight to win 2-0, and they matched it.  The girls played outstanding, and I couldn’t ask for any better from them.”

The RHS boys have picked up right where they left off last year and sit atop the 4A-5A Area 16 standings. The Golden Tigers dominated the Wildcats Thursday night, winning by a 5-0 score. The win sets up a big game April 19 at RHS against an East Limestone team that has been playing well as of late.

Jesus Betancourt was steady at keeper for RHS, and Andy Alonso got Russellville off to a good start with a goal in the game’s early minutes.  A goal on a header by David Baltazar put RHS up 2-0, and Esvin Mateo added another to the total with 16:41 remaining in the first half.

The second half was all Russellville as well.  Samuel Bahena finished off the Wildcats with a goal with 2:29 left on the clock.

With the victory, the RHS boys look to be back on track after stumbling a bit against some strong competition from a couple of teams from South Carolina.