St. Paul’s held it’s 26th annual Holiday Invitational Soccer Tournament Dec. 26-28 featuring some of the top ranked teams in the state. Over the years, the tournament has become one of the state’s premier events involving kind of a who’s who in boys’ soccer.

St. Paul’s Wolves finished with a 1-1-1 record competing in Bracket A along with Caddo Magnet, Dutchtown and Grace King.

SPS battled the Grace King Fighting Irish to a 1-1 tie in its opening match Friday morning. The teams fought through a scoreless first half. St. Paul’s was the early aggressor keeping pressure on Grace King goalkeeper Daniel Zavala, but the Wolves were unable to make their way into the scoring column. The Wolves earned three corner kicks during the first 10 minutes of action, but each time they were turned away by the Grace King defense. SPS’ Scott Mayer, Blake Sellers and Seth Hagan got off quality shots during that span, but came away empty.

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Grace King hung tough in the first half with its one-two offensive punch of Wilfredo Castro and Rommel Parrales using their quick ball skills to pressure the ball inside against the Wolves’ defense. Just three minutes into the second half, Castro worked himself inside and made a nice cross to Parrales, who finished the goal beating St. Paul’s goalkeeper Bryan Bowers to the left side to give Grace King a 1-0 lead.

St. Paul’s Chad Cox, a senior captain for the Wolves, worked himself free for a shot from about 12 yards out, but was denied by Zavala.

St. Paul’s Adrian McInnis rifled off a shot just minutes later that slid wide left. The Wolves’ Hagan tied the match with an unassisted goal in the 44th minute. Hagan headed up the right side with a nice dribble move before blasting a shot on goal. The shot was deflected with Hagan following it up, knocking in the rebound to make it 1-1.

Hagan talked about his goal.

“The ball came into me and I just hit it first time. It hit off a defender’s back and I touched it past the keeper to the right corner,” Hagan said.

Hagan said Grace King was a difficult team to defend. Just two minutes later, Grace King was back on the attack with Castro firing off a shot. Bowers came up big with a nifty diving save to keep the match tied.

Castro and Parrales kept up the pressure, but the St. Paul’s defense was up to the challenge holding off the onslaught. St. Paul’s named Cox its top defender.

SPS head coach Trevor Watkins said his team had difficulty accounting for a couple of Grace King’s players (Castro and Parrales), who could shoot from the outside.

“Our players were very tentative getting back on defense. To our credit, we didn’t panic after falling behind by a goal. We kept playing and fought back to earn the tie,” Watkins said.

In Friday’s second contest, St. Paul’s pulled off a 1-0 victory over the Dutchtown Griffins with Hagan notching the game-winner in the 12th minute from 10 yards out. It was Hagan’s sixth goal of the season. Hagan was assisted by Mayer, who positioned the ball with a nice cross from the right side for Hagan’s finish.

Hagan said it was good to get the victory in a close match.

“We needed this win after getting a tie in our tournament opening match. We played our opening match with a lack of energy,” Hagan said.

Hagan said his teammate Mayer made a good play getting him the ball from in the corner. “We made eye contact and he crossed it. I thought the keeper was going to come out. I just came in and hit it,” Hagan added.

St. Paul’s Adrian McInnis said it was a good team victory.

“We established our rhythm. We incorporated all styles of play, out wide and dumped the ball in the middle. We dribbled well and had good looks at the goal,” McInnis said.

Coach Watkins credited his center midfielders with doing a good job of getting all players involved by moving the ball around finding feet.

Bowers fashioned the shutout for the Wolves. The junior goalkeeper credited his teammates with a solid defensive effort. “I was really proud of my defenders keeping things away from me,” Bowers said.

Dutchtown senior goalkeeper Ian Hanlon was tested early in the match, coming up with some big saves only allowing the one goal.

St. Paul’s controlled the flow of the match. The Wolves were awarded four corner kicks in the first half. William Crawford took the corners and nearly connected with Jordan Daigle on a header attempt. Zach Perret got off a shot in the 20th minute, which slid wide right. In the final minute of the first half, SPS’ Crawford positioned a corner kick finding Cox, but his header attempt was off the mark keeping the match at 1-0.

St. Paul’s (10-4-1) kept up its offensive pressure early in the second half. Coach Watkins credited Zach Perret with doing a good job of moving the ball around, while he highlighted the defensive play of Joey Mingo, who shadowed Dutchtown’s top offensive player Ryan Reid throughout the match, taking him out of his game.

The Wolves finished their play Saturday morning, matching up with the unbeaten Caddo Magnet Mustangs (17-0), the defending Division I state champions. Caddo Magnet took the match 2-0 on a superlative team effort. Caddo senior Zach Kelly punched in a goal in the 10th minute assisted by fellow senior Stephen Bush to give the Mustangs a 1-0 advantage, which is how the half ended.

Kelly described his goal.

“It was a set piece that we have been working on the whole year. It was a corner kick where the guy runs to it and dummies it and I take the shot. I got a good foot on it and it went in the left side,” Kelly said.

St. Paul’s played the match without two of its senior team captains. Mayer was out with a hand injury and Cox missed the match due to a foot injury.

Six minutes into the second half, sophomore Stanley Johnson made it 2-0 with Bush getting credit for his second assist.

Caddo Magnet played a strong defensive match limiting St. Paul’s scoring opportunities.

Caddo senior goalkeeper Jack Waterman posted the shutout and Victor Leuck was named the Mustangs’ top defender. St. Paul’s named Mingo its top defender.

Caddo Magnet assistant coach John Harter filling in for coach Radi Baltov, said his team did an outstanding job.

“I was very pleased with our overall team performance. Our players did a good job keeping the ball on the ground, finding feet. “St. Paul’s is always a very good squad year in and year out. They are a class act,” Harter said.