LE MARS, Iowa -- With the help of an electric set of brothers, the Storm Lake High School boys soccer team kept its state tournament hopes alive.
In the Tornadoes' (8-6-1) emphatic 3-2 Class 3A Substate 1 semifinal matchup over Le Mars (9-6-1), Raymond and Cairo Hernandez spearheaded the team's offensive charge that had the Bulldogs on their heels from the start Tuesday at Tim Lorenzen Field.
"I love it 100%," Raymond said. "We have been playing together since we were little and now we are playing high school ball and are in another substate final."
The Hernandez brothers and the rest of the Storm Lake squad clinched a spot in the substate championship with a meeting against Spencer (11-3-2) on Thursday at the Northwest Iowa Soccer Field with its second straight trip to the state tournament on the line.
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Through the first 20 minutes of the affair, the Tornadoes asserted themselves as the aggressor with several shots on goal and overwhelming control of the ball. Coupled with an unfortunate lower leg injury Le Mars senior Jovany Kabongo, which sidelined him for the rest of the first half, Storm Lake began to fully put together its offense with the Bulldogs down their veteran captain.
"It was a clean tackle he even said it when [Kabongo] was walking off," Martinez said. "It is kind of bitter sweet that we won with him being injured like that. Even when he came back on and he was limping he was still a threat and causing trouble."
Eight minutes after Kabongo exited the field, Raymond sent an aggressive strike inside the box that went past the left side of Le Mars goalie Karter Melvin which got the Tornadoes on board.
Storm Lake ended the first half with eight shots on goal to the Bulldogs' one, with Melvin saving six in a busy night for him between the posts.
"The midfield was sending those balls and we just kept making good runs," Raymond said.
Eleven minutes went by in the second half with neither team finding the back of the net, before Kabongo heroically retook the field.
It didn't take long for his presence to be felt.
Three minutes into his return, Kabongo was a part of a scuffle for the ball near the Tornadoes goal that drew a penalty kick for Le Mars senior Jacob Plueger. A kick that swept past the right side of Storm Lake goalie Jose De Jesus Hernandez Rosas to tie the game.
After Plueger knotted things up, the Tornadoes stayed levelheaded and it didn't take long for them to crack the Bulldogs' defense once again. In the 61st minute, Raymond tapped the ball off the leg of a Le Mars player right near the goal which snuck past Melvin to reluctantly give the lead right back to Storm Lake.
"[Raymond] is a big time player," Martinez said. "When he performs like that we are going to be winning games."
Storm Lake continued to dominate possession, despite several attempts by Le Mars to get the ball in the vicinity of a left leg hopping Kabongo.
But in the 77th minute, Cairo added what would end up being a much needed insurance run for the Tornadoes on a strike past the left side to take a 3-1 advantage.
"That was the dagger and it was big relief," Martinez said.
Despite a late effort from Plueger a minute later to make things interesting, the Tornadoes sealed the game.
Storm Lake had defeated Le Mars 5-4 in its regular season finale May 15, which aided the team in its long break before the start of the postseason.
"We prepared for this game," Martinez said. "We had time to study and prepare for this game and I think it was just a matter of execution today."
Now the Tornadoes will set their eyes on Spencer, who they tied with at two goals a piece to open up the season.
But with a ticket to its eight state tournament appearance in program history on the line, Storm Lake are set on proving its status.
"We are going to be doing our homework," Martinez said. "We are not the same team we were at the beginning and neither are they."
"We are ready for them," Raymond said. "We are not going to lose."
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