BOYS SOCCER: Ibarra nets game-winning goal as Permian defeats Odessa High

Permian senior co-captain Luis Ibarra never thought this moment would come.

When the season began, his fourth at the varsity level, he was moved from an attacking position to defense.

After Permian fell behind early to Odessa High Friday night in District 2-6A action, Panthers’ head coach Luis Carmona made the decision to move Ibarra back to striker.

That move ended up giving Permian the win.

The Panthers downed the Bronchos 2-1 after Ibarra’s game-winning goal with 1:26 left in the contest at Ratliff Stadium.

“Being in a new position at the beginning of the year, I never thought I’d have a chance to do that again,” Ibarra said. “I forgot how good that felt. When I did get that chance, I took advantage of it and it paid off.”

In the closing stages of the game, tied at 1, both Permian and Odessa High were pushing for another goal to attain all three points that come with a district-regulation win.

Ibarra’s opportunity came on a counterattack where, along with two teammates, he stormed up the field.

After receiving a pass 45 yards from goal, Ibarra made his move around a Broncho defender and struck the ball past the outstretched hands of Odessa High goalkeeper Gabriel Padilla and into the top of the net.

Ibarra then slid on his knees to celebrate before being dogpiled by a host of Panther teammates.

“We kind of figured that Luis had the edge on them with speed up top,” Carmona said. “We needed to make the move being down a goal. Fortunately, he was the one that put in the game winner for us.”

Ibarra’s goal handed Permian its first regulation win over Odessa High since March 2015, when he was a freshman.

“The kid never stops fighting, he’s an unbelievable person,” Carmona said about Ibarra. “The will that he has to fight, to win and he never complains on where we put him.”

Permian (8-7-1 overall, 1-1-1-0 District 2-6A, five points) needed a solid performance after falling 6-0 Tuesday to Wolfforth Frenship and got the exact start it was dreading, as Odessa High’s Chris Ramos scored the game’s first goal four minutes in.

As Odessa High (10-7-1, 2-1-0-0, six points) was pressing for a second tally midway the first half, Carmona made the Ibarra switch and the Panthers’ offense started to click — earning free kicks and scoring chances.

On Permian’s final free kick of the half from just outside the penalty box, Ibarra drove the ball into the path of Jonathan Elias.

Elias crouched to meet the ball and let it glance off his head, aiming for the spot in between Padilla and the Odessa High defender guarding the far post. His ricochet was accurate and hit the back of the net with 30 seconds until halftime.

“They got a big win, they deserve it, the boys played really hard,” Odessa High head coach Eliseo Ortiz said about Permian. “It’s just like every Permian-OHS game, everybody plays up, it doesn’t matter the records, as cheesy as it sounds.”

Carmona told his team at halftime that the next goal would most likely win the game. The Panthers had to wait until the 79th minute to see it, but Permian’s head coach ended up being exactly right.

Those clutch moments couldn’t have come at a better time for the Panthers in no doubt their biggest game of the season so far.

“The thing that it does for our morale and our confidence right now, coming off that big loss Tuesday night, I think some of the kids started maybe having doubts in themselves,” Carmona said about the win. “But we kept on working them and telling them just to have faith and believe that one game doesn’t determine your season. The kids came out tonight and fought.”

“It signifies that it’s not over for us,” Ibarra added. “There’s still hope for our team. We’re getting better, we’re getting closer as a team. There’s only going to be good things coming from now on.”

Permian now sits one point behind co-district leaders Odessa High and Wolfforth Frenship through three games. The loss snaps Odessa High’s six-game win streak.

{{tncms-inline account=”EricBlumOA” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BOYS SOCCER: Final Score – Permian 2, Odessa High 1. Luis Ibarra scores game-winning goal in 79th minute to hand Panthers victory</p>— Eric Blum (@EricBlumOA) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricBlumOA/status/964702458957193216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2018</a></blockquote>” id=”964702458957193216″ type=”twitter”}}