Bulldogs Dominate Charles City in Substate Playoffs

Hampton-Dumont-CAL’s (HDCAL) boys soccer team defeated the Charles City Comets by a score of 7-1 in the first round of the 2-2A substate playoffs on a rain soaked Tuesday, May 20.. The Bulldogs are the number three seed in the class 2A substate 2 tournament after a 9-3-3 record in the regular season, while the Comets were the six seed. The Bulldogs would get the lead early in the first half, when senior Fernando Mota scored his 30th goal of the season, tying him for the H-D-CAL career record, just over 14 minutes into the game. The Bulldogs would add another goal just five minutes later when sophomore Hunter Rieken made a beautiful cross field pass to sophomore Christain Zavala who struck the ball into the back of the net. Just a few minutes later, Mota would rebound a missed shot off the goalie into the back of the net for his second goal of the game and his H-D-CAL career record 31st goal. Mota was thrilled to accomplish this feat.

“It means a lot," said Mota. It means a lot a lot. Being able to one-up the greats that I looked up to when I was a freshman, I wanted to be like them and I did it.” 

Mota’s historic night was not over, as he added another goal just five minutes later for yet another hat trick this season. Mota would score another goal for the Bulldogs before the Comets would score their first goal of the game. After the Comets made it a 5-1 game, with under 10 seconds to go in the first half, Mota would tack on one more goal for good measure, his fifth of the game, to give the Bulldogs a 6-1 lead into the halftime break. Mota discussed how important it was to him to be able to show up and perform in the playoffs. 

“Just being able to be a four year starter, as a freshman I looked up to many greats, like Jonathon Morales,” he said. “I came into the playoffs to support my team. This is my last year and probably my last home game and I wanted it for the fans.” 

As the heavy rain continued to fall, the game would slow down for the Bulldogs as they would only score one goal in the second half as senior Silas Beusman would connect for a goal of his own, with under 30 seconds left in the game to put the finishing touches on H-D-CAL’s 7-1 victory. Bulldogs head coach Danielle Arana discussed how her team’s willingness to buy into her gameplan has led to their success on the pitch this season. 

“More of them are believing in my plan,” said Arana. “You know the progress is really there when they are out there saying the things that I have been saying to them. At this point we are all on the same page. We know what our goal is, we know what we need to do.”  

The Bulldogs moved on and faced the Aplington-Parkersburg Falcons on Tuesday, May 27.