The Lufkin Panthers will venture away from home to square off against the Nacogdoches Dragons at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Lufkin barely beat Whitehouse the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Panthers' defense stepped up to hand the Wildcats a 3-0 shutout on Friday. The final result isn't all that surprising considering Lufkin's considerable advantage in MaxPreps' Texas soccer rankings (they are ranked 188th, while Whitehouse are ranked 505th).
Meanwhile, Jacksonville kept up with Nacogdoches until halftime on Friday, but afterwards: not so much. The Dragons blew past the Fightin' Indians 3-0. The game was the first time Nacogdoches have beaten Jacksonville on their pitch since March 5, 2021.
Nacogdoches hit Jacksonville with a three-pronged attack, as the team got scores from Abel Garcia, Tristyn Garrett, and Lionel Castro.
The win made it two in a row for Nacogdoches and bumps their season record up to 13-5-3. Those victories came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only given up zero goals over those two contests. As for Lufkin, their win bumped their record up to 7-5-5.
Lufkin skirted past Nacogdoches 1-0 in their previous matchup back in January. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Panthers since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
