Playing their last match at home before the Christmas break the Douglas Bulldogs put together another nice display beating the Sahuaro Cougars 4-2 in soccer action at Armando DeLucas Stadium Thursday.

Douglas’ Ramon Acosta works to get the ball away from a Sahuaro defender in the first half of the Bulldogs match with Sahuaro Thursday at Douglas High School. Acosta had two goals for the Bulldogs in a 4-2 win. Douglas has a big non-conference showdown Tuesday at Canyon Del Oro.

The Bulldogs, 4-1-1, have two tough road matches next week taking on Canyon Del Oro on Tuesday and Palo Verde on Thursday in the Gila Regional opener.

Sahuaro struck first Thursday scoring a goal six minutes into the match taking a 1-0 lead.

Ramon Acosta’s goal off an Abi Del Castillo assist 11 minutes later allowed the Bulldogs to tie the match at 1-1.

Francisco Cruz then scored off a Miguel Gonzalez assist giving Douglas a 2-1 edge.

Sahuaro would later tie the match at 2-2 only to see Acosta score again giving the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead at the half.

Tony Lopez scored for Douglas the second half giving the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead.

Douglas out shot Sahuaro 23-10. Jorge Valenzuela had one save in the net and Jose Larrazolo recorded five.

Bulldog soccer coach Ken Cormier said after the win his kids played well against a very good Sahuaro team.

“I thought we showed a lot of poise under pressure,” he said. “We didn’t panic when we fell behind or when Sahuaro tied it at 2-2.”

The coach said Juan Cuevas, Ricky Smith and Lopez played well in the middle and Acosta caused Sahuaro some problems with his aggressive defensive play.

“I was really pleased with our effort,” the coach said. “It was a real aggressive, hard fought game.”

Cormier said he and his players are looking forward to Tuesday’s showdown with CDO which may be just as good if not better than Salpointe.

“It’s going to be a good test for us,” he said.

Cormier encourages the local soccer fans to check out the Bulldogs website at douglasbulldogsoccer.com

Junior varsity

Douglas’ junior varsity A team beat Sahuaro’s JV’s 2-1 Thursday as Kevin Pacheco had both goals giving him three goals on the week.

Pacheco’s first goal came off an Emmanuel Verdgo assist giving Douglas a 1-0 lead at the half.

In the second half he scored again this time off an assist from Jose Gonzalez increasing the Bulldogs lead to 2-0.

Sahuaro scored a goal late making the final score 2-1.

The Bulldogs out shot Sahuaro 15-10. Goalie Michael Abrigo had seven saves for Douglas.

Douglas’ JV coach Alphonso Romero said his team came out strong from the start and did a good job of taking the match to Sahuaro.

“Playing these bigger schools like Sahuaro and Buena is only going to help us down the road,” he said.

Romero said Gonzalez and Samuel Bello each had good games.

On Wednesday Douglas’ JV B team beat Tanque Verde Salpointe 5-2.

Tanque Verde is a new school in Tucson and their soccer team was co-ed.

Diego Blastik scored the first goal of the match off a Hido Cosme assist.

Jorge Escalante then scored off a Robert Diaz assist.

Tanque Verde scored just before the break cutting Douglas’ lead to 2-1 at the half. In the second half Cosme, Escalante and Diaz each scored for Douglas as the Bulldogs built a 5-1 lead.

Douglas out shot Tanque Verde 19-8. Goalie Efrain Elias had five saves.

Coach Victor Ramos said this was a fun game to play and a lot of the kids who normally don’t see a lot of playing time picked up some quality minutes Wednesday.

The coach said Cosme and Escalante each played well as did Antonio Pena.

The JV-B team is back in action Monday taking on Buena’s B team in Sierra Vista.