On Sunday night, the Denton Diablos staged a massive late comeback to beat the Fort Worth Vaqueros in the opening leg of the Chisholm Trail Clasico.
After a dramatic, yet scoreless, first half, Fort Worth’s Allyson Angieski struck first in the 49th minute with an incredible run. Fort Worth conceded a corner to Denton, immediately won the ball back, and found Angieski just outside the box. Angieski sprinted nearly the full length of the field, shook two Diablos defenders cutting into Denton’s box, and shot past the keeper’s left.
Denton responded with five minutes of intense pressure on the Vaqueros, culminating in a goal for Ricardo Becerra in the 55th minute. Denton’s buildup play caught the Vaqueros keeper well off his line and turned the wrong way, resulting in an easy tap-in goal for Becerra.
Five minutes later, Denton took the lead off a corner kick which connected with the head of Diablos captain Eoin Wearen.
Fort Worth brought things level just five minutes later, winning the ball back deep in their own half, building up along the right sideline, and ultimately finding VcMor Eligwe near midfield. Eligwe managed to storm into the Diablos box despite a 1-on-4 disadvantage, and curled an absurd shot just inches from the goal line into the far post side net.
Once again, just five minutes later, VcMor Eligwe repeated his heroics, storming into Denton’s box, passed laterally to a sprinting Allyson Angieski, who rocketed a shot above the keeper’s head to give the Vaqueros a 3-2 lead.
Facing a 3-2 deficit, the Diablos subbed on fresh legs and once again piled the pressure on the Vaqueros. A long buildup resulted in chaos in the box, and a failed deflection bounced to the feet of Denton’s Julian Barrajas. Barrajas had just enough time to steady the ball, turn, and shoot to once again draw Denton level in the 77th minute.
From the resulting kickoff, Fort Worth booted it downfield to Denton’s keeper, who set up a string of 5 quick passes that ended with Jakob Fiol sprinting towards the penalty arc. Fiol deked two Vaqueros defenders and fired off a shot to his far post into the side netting to take a 4-3 lead for Denton.
But the Diablos weren’t done yet. Denton kept up the intense pressure, ultimately winning a free kick just outside the corner of the box in the 88th minute. Fort Worth tried to clear it, but after several errant bounces, the ball landed just outside the penalty arc, where a waiting Adan Garcia chipped it above the keeper’s outstretched hands and into the net.
With that, Denton improves to a perfect 2-0-0 record, while the Vaqueros sit in last place on 0-3-0.
The regular season Chisholm Trail Clasico series ends this Saturday, May 29, with Denton hosting at 6 p.m. at the Vela Soccer Complex.