Seven Lakes is built for these moments.

It’s a team that has played in the biggest moments and on the biggest stages and they know how to up thier game when the time comes.

So when the Spartans went into a regional final against the only team that had beaten them all season, there were no nerves. This was a team that knew what to do and how they were going to win. The Spartans showed just that on Saturday, beating Cinco Ranch 4-0 in the Region III-6A Final and advancing to their third straight state tournament.
“We just know how important it is,” said junior winger Kortay Koc. “We know how important this is, it hasn’t been done in over 30 years and so we came out and played with everything we had. It’s not an easy thing to do to win a region three years in a row. To do that feels really good.”

Seven Lakes came out and made a statement right away, scoring in the second minute when Daniel Ejerenwa put a low cross into the box that found Sean Carlos Rivera, who made no mistakes and put it in the back of the net past the keeper.

The Spartans kept pushing and had chances at a second in the first half but weren’t able to connect. Cinco slowly built itself into the game and got two chances late in the half on free kicks, but both were handled by Seven Lakes as the Spartans went into the half leading 1-0.

“We just learn from our games,” Sammy Harpole, a senior midfielder said. “That was the key for this one, we knew what Cinco wanted to do and we learned from our loss to them. Then we came back out and played at our best.”

With the wind at the Spartans back in the second half they dominated. They added a second in the 55th minute when Sammy Harpole was able to get on the end of a low cross and get a shot past the keeper before Koc added a third, dribbling past three defenders before finding the back of the net. Gael Gonzalez put the cherry on top with two minutes left in the game, scoring on a chipped pass from Eduardo Davalillo to make it 4-0.

A number of players have upped thier games at the right time for Seven Lakes, Rivera has popped up in big moments with goals while Harpole has excelled in his midfield role as the playoffs have gone.

“We’re playing our best with him out on the field and we were talking as a staff in the second half saying, ‘we can’t take Sammy out,’” said Seven Lakes head coach Jimmy Krueger. “He’s been so big for us and for him to come online like this at this point in the season is huge. He’s coming into his own and having a huge impact on this team.”

The Spartans are the first team to win region III three years in a row since Klein in 1991. There is still unfinished business for the Spartans though, they want to be the first boys team in the UIL to ever win back-to-back state titles, and they know they have to be ready for another test.

“These guys have been there and have experience and it’s big that they know what to do,” Krueger said. “We’re going to take these next few days to recover and get our legs fresh and then it’s time for a gauntlet. We have to be at our best if we want to advance.”