The Russellville High School varsity soccer teams recently competed in the AHSAA Class 5A playoffs.

The Russellville boys hosted the Boaz Pirates April 30 for the first playoff game of the 2024 season, and the Golden Tigers got a 3-2 win.

RHS took a 1-0 lead with 32:43 remaining in the first half when Richard Scott scored on a corner kick by Erik Jacinto. Boaz answered with a goal by Brayan Lopez two minutes later to even the score and took a 2-1 lead when Jose Arreguin found the back of the net with 2:52 left in the opening half.

The defense of the Golden Tigers including goalkeeper Miguel Andres held the Pirates scoreless in the second half and Russellville’s Manny Martinez scored the tying goal with 35:47 left in the match. Hailezgy Tekle later added the winning goal with 5:44 remaining on the second half clock.

“Hats off to Boaz,” Russellville boys’ head coach Trey Stanford said. “For the second year in a row, they came to our place, and they absolutely played our tails off.”

The Golden Tigers were able to feed off the energy of the home crowd. “What an atmosphere,” Stanford said. “I couldn’t ask for much better. We called for all the players that have ever played for us to be here, and a lot of them responded and a lot of them are here and I’m very grateful. It’s the best program in the state. Whether we win it or not, by far it’s the best program in the state.”

On May 3, the Russellville boys went to Guntersville and fell in the quarterfinals by a 2-1 final score in overtime.

The two teams battled to a scoreless first half. Russellville (16-4-2) took a 1-0 lead in the second half but Guntersville (23-3-1) answered with a second half goal to even the score and went on to get the win with a goal in overtime to end the Russellville season.

The Russellville girls also competed in the playoffs after a successful regular season. Russellville (11-7) went to Guntersville High School (21-3-2) April 29 to open the playoffs, and the Golden Tigers lost by a 3-1 score. Keyla Martinez scored the goal for RHS during the final game of the season for the Golden Tigers.

“Overall, our season was wildly successful compared to last year,” Russellville girls’ head coach Dalany Roberts said. “If you look at our season as a whole, our record is an improvement but not only that, the spread between goals against and goals for, we were in the negative last year, and we’re in the positive this year by quite a bit.”