Story By Heath Hambrick
The Collinsville Panthers' reign continues as DeKalb County champions, as the Panthers won the varsity girls and varsity boys titles again in the DeKalb County Soccer tournament.
The Lady Panthers defeated Crossville 1-0 in the first varsity match of the day, and the Panthers defeated Sylvania 4-0 in the varsity boys final on Saturday at Geraldine High School.
The varsity girls' match was a defensive struggle as neither team could get a shot to find its way into the net. Goalies Kayla Martinez from Crossville, Olivia Noles, and Arlynn Hernandez from Collinsville each made multiple saves in the match to keep the score tied at 0-0.
In the first half, at the 28-minute mark, it looked like the Lady Lions were going to take the lead after scoring a goal, but they were called offside, so the goal didn’t count.
The match went to halftime tied at 0-0.
Two minutes into the second half, Collinsville scored what looked to be the first goal of the match, but just like what happened to Crossville in the first half, the Lady Panthers were called offside, and the goal was taken off the scoreboard.
The match ended in regulation, tied at 0-0, which sent the match to a penalty kick.
Collinsville won the match on penalty kicks 3-2 as the Lady Panthers' goalie, Arlynn Hernandez, made three straight saves to end the match and give Collinsville the 1-0 victory.
Collinsville won its third straight county championship with the win. The Lady Panthers improved to 10-5-1 as Crossville fell to 7-6-1.
The 2026 varsity girls all-tournament team is as follows: Melanie Cantor (MVP), Collinsville; Keyra Aguilera, Collinsville; Andrea Hernandez, Collinsville; Emily Salazar, Collinsville; Dana Aquino, Crossville; Kaylee Balcazar, Crossville; Ana Rivera, Crossville.
Varsity boys final
In the varsity boys championship match, the Collinsville Panthers defeated Sylvania 4-0 to win their second county title in a row. The Sylvania Rams are the first team other than Collinsville or Crossville to play in the championship match in the tournament's three-year history.
In the first half, Collinsville didn’t waste any time scoring as the Panthers scored at the 36:59 mark of the half.
The first half ended with the Panthers holding a 1-0 lead as the game was a defensive battle for most of the first half.
In the second half, Collinsville scored three goals in the span of four minutes. The first came at the 34:30 mark when John Paul Barrientos found the back of the goal. At the 31:42 mark, Alex Herrera scored to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead. Then, at the 30:19 mark, Alessandro Corona scored the final goal of the match.
Collinsville improved to 13-7 as Sylvania fell to 6-7-1.
The 2026 varsity boys all-tournament team is as follows: Giovanni Vazaquez (MVP), Collinsville; John Paul Barrientos, Collinsville; Yensi Flamenco, Collinsville; Alex Herrera, Collinsville; Sam Stewart, Collinsville; Amilton Lopez, Sylvania; Diego Pascual, Sylvania; Caleb Luckey, Sylvania.
