Head Coach Walter Rule

Walter Rule has been named the head coach of boys soccer at Clark following the departure of Coach Eddie Ashley.

Ashley coached this past year’s team to a Clark record 21-2-2 and one win shy of an appearance in the state tournament.  It was the farthest a Clark boys soccer team has ever advanced in the playoffs.  Ashley resigned to take an Assistant Principal position at Boerne’s Champion High School.

Coach Rule moves over from coaching the girl’s team for the past two seasons.  Previous to Clark, Rule coached the boys team at Reagan, where he won a state championship in 2002 and his 2004 team also played in the state championship game.  He continues to coach at the club level as well and played professionally with Atlas of Mexico for two years following a successful college career, where he was an All-American place kicker for the Texas A&I (now A&M-Kingsville) Javelinas.

The new girls coach is Diana Driggers.  She has been Head Coach at both Holmes and Providence High Schools. For three years, Diana was Head Coach at Texas Lutheran University. Driggers played at MacArthur High School and advanced to the South Texas State Team twice. She played for the University of Incarnate Word and obtained the distinction of Nationally Ranked Goalkeeper (NAIA). Diana is also the AAYSA Referee Commissioner and was a Professional Referee for the Women’s Professional League.

Congratulations to Coach Ashley in his new position and good luck and congrats to Coach Rule and Driggers. AND GO COOGS!

Coach Eddie Ashley’s comments after the game:

The Clark boys soccer team advanced to the regional championship Friday with a win over Mission Sharyland at Blossom Stadium. The Coogs heart stopping path to the “Elite Eight” of Texas high school soccer came with another shootout. For the third game in a row Clark ended regulation and overtime tied and this time like the last it was 0-0. In methodical fashion, Johnny Lawson, Oscar Barboza and Evan Javors  made the first three goals of the shootout while Cougar goalkeeper Brandon Van Wagner kept Sharyland out altogether ending the game. Read more in the Express News. And at RGVsports.com.

Next step comes at 3:00 Saturday at Blossom when Clark takes on familiar foe – Austin Westlake (18-5-2) . At stake is one of four spots in the state tournament.

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Clark soccer team congratulates Van Wagner

The Clark boys soccer team is headed to the Region IV tournament for the first time in school history following a quarterfinal instant classic against Austin Bowie. The game wasn’t decided until a sudden death shoot out goal by Zack Guevara and a clutch stop on Bowie’s next attempt by the game’s hero – Clark goalkeeper Brandon Van Wagner. All this followed a defensive fight in regulation that ended in a 0-0 tie, two 10 minute overtime periods that ended with no score and a shootout that went through the standard five players only to end in a 3-3 tie. Guevara’s shot marked the 7th kick in the shootout and when Bowie failed to convert its 7th attempt the game was finally history. Coach Eddie Ashley’s teams have never lost a shootout in the four years since he arrived at Clark and now they’ll take their national ranking (currently #19) and clutch play to the next level.  Catch more details about the game in this Express News article.

The Region IV tournament will be Friday and Saturday at Blossom with Clark facing either Brownsville Lopez or Mission Sharyland in the semi-finals.

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