4A BOYS: Velazquez’s two goals lift Legacy to title repeat

RENO — Antonio Velazquez removed the suspense early and the Legacy defense did the rest as the Longhorns claimed their second consecutive Class 4A boys soccer state championship, defeating Hug 3-1 on Saturday at Damonte Ranch High.

Velazquez scored two goals a minute apart, in the 17th and 18th minutes, and the Longhorns controlled the game throughout against a Hug team that had won all four of its postseason games in overtime.

“Just knowing that two years in a row we get to be the best team in the state, that’s a great honor,” Velazquez said. “We get the bragging rights.”

Legacy coach Jose Gomez said he’s asked his team all year what they were going to do to live up to the school’s name.

“One is hard, but two is even harder,” Gomez said. “Our name is Legacy, and one of those things is how are you going to leave your legacy, and those seniors that went back to back, awesome.”

Velazquez found himself in the right place, getting his foot on the ball in a jumble of players in front of the net for the first goal. A minute later he found himself alone right of the net and drilled a shot past Hug goalie Humberto Mariscal.

“You get that confidence after the first one and the second one gave all the kids that confidence,” Gomez said. “For him to come into the game and get those two goals early set the tone.”

Jorge Gonzalez made it 3-0 with a brilliant individual effort for an unassisted goal in the 45th minute to make it 3-0.

Hug’s Armando Villanueva Ramos got the Hawks on the board in the 45th minute, but the Longhorns’ defense and goalie Ramon Carvajal gave the Longhorns a day to remember for a long time.

“The rest of our lives,” Velazquez said. “In our region we had a lot of good competition. Making it through that, we had to win the whole thing.”