The Palestine Wildcats defeated Progreso 4-3 in penalty kicks after a scoreless regulation and overtime to win the school's first-ever state soccer championship on Friday in Georgetown. (Courtesy Photo)

Unflappable, unbeatable and now a state champion.

Palestine senior goalkeeper Bennett Gierkey produced his second clean sheet of the state tournament with a 4-3 penalty-kick win over Progreso on Friday in the Class 4A boys soccer state final at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown.

The Wildcats completed their season with a 30-1-2 record and the program’s first-ever soccer state championship.

Two days after Gierkey denied Kilgore on penalties in the 4A semifinal, Progreso suffered a similar fate. Gierkey, later named tournament MVP, finished with with nine saves and made another critical stop in the shootout.

“It was unbelievable how that young man could take the pressure of not just one match, but two matches in a row and win a state title,” Palestine coach John Absalom said. “When he came in as a freshman he and I talked and I told (Gierkey) one day you are going to take us to state and we are going to win the state title. Today was the day.”

Progresso finished its first-ever trip to the state tournament as 4A runner-up with a 22-6-2 record. The Red Ants outshot the Wildcats 18-10 with nine of those on goal, but couldn’t find a way past Gierkey.

The Wildcats wall defense – comprised of Gierkey, David Egbe, Rudy Ruiz and Allan Marquez, among others – delivered 200-plus minutes of scoreless soccer against the best the state had to offer. Gierkey faced 37 shots – 17 of them on goal – in the two games.

He also faced 10 penalty attempts with only half of them breaching his net.

“We knew that if we didn’t play lights out defense that we weren’t going to win the state title,” Gierkey said.

Palestine’s penalty takers were also nearly flawless. In two separate penalty shootouts against Kilgore in the semifinals and Progreso in the final, the Wildcats were denied once by Kilgore’s Tomas Tapia in the semifinal but did not give Red Ants keeper Oziel Jaramillo a chance to lay a single finger on any of their conversions.

“In overtime we were thinking of playing for the PKs and I honestly wanted to go to the PKs because I knew we could beat them,” Gierkey said. “My guys work hard on PKs every day in practice and when it comes down to it, they don’t shy away from it. They handle their business.”

Beginning with sophomore Chris Giron, the Wildcats calmly strolled up to the spot, scored and went back to wait with their teammates. First Giron and then Luis Zavala and then Tomas Garcia.

What made it more impressive was the pressure each faced by shooting second with Progresso going 3 for 3 on its first three attempts.

On the fourth attempt, Gierkey dove to his right and deflected the shot away.

“They all had gone to the left with the first three shots and I just thought in my mind that this guy was probably going to go left,” Gierkey said. “The way he was standing kind of told me where he was going to go.”

That meant Edgar Ayala could put Palestine in the driver’s seat and sophomore did just that.

The weight of the world was on the next Progreso taker, who had to score just to keep the Red Ants’ hope alive.

He missed high and wide.

Celebration followed.

The match began with Progreso on the front foot, but the Red Ants soon began to realize that it was going to take something special to get past Gierkey.

Meanwhile, Palestine nearly took the lead with its only scoring chance of the first half. Following a free kick that Gierkey caught, he quickly rolled the ball back out for a counter the other way. With Palestine working a 2-on-1, Giron played a perfect pass into Riley Harper, who had enough time to try to toe-poke a shot under the keeper, but Jaramillo raced out to block it.

Palestine took more control in the second half, but Jaramillo was there every time. A long throw in by Allan Marquez was flicked toward the near post by Humberto Mendoza, but right to Jaramillo. The biggest chance occurred with 13 minutes remaining when a shot in the box was headed toward goal by Tony Guzman, only for Jaramillo to make a diving deflection.

Progreso had scored three goals in its semifinal win over Argyle but as the minutes continued to count down, Gierkey’s goal seemed to get smaller and smaller, with Palestine’s defense more resolved to help him keep the clean sheet.

The Red Ants’ biggest chance for the game-winner occurred in the final minute of the first half of overtime. Rogelio Zamora received the ball in the box with his back to goal and surrounded by Palestine defenders. He waited for the ball to bounce and eventually turned and got away a shot, but Gierkey was ready and waiting.

Once the fifth penalty shot missed and the celebrations and pictures ended, Absalom began to revel in something he had wanted to accomplish his entire coaching career.

“This is something that can never be taken away,” Absalom said. “I told my kids, ‘You’re a state champion and you really can’t put words into that.’ I have worked 25 years with 11 of them at Palestine and it has always been a dream of mine to win a state championship. That dream came true today.”

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