ST. PAULS — Some of the most intense battles on the high school soccer field locally are between St. Pauls and Red Springs.

Alumni from the two schools’ soccer programs got to face off on the pitch again over the weekend in an Alumni Game.

Three games were held at St. Pauls, with two games among the boys team alumni and one among the girls alumni.

“There has been a long-standing rivalry with our schools or the longest time, and our soccer rivalry has been one of the most contested and heated over the last 10-15 years while I’ve been here,” St. Pauls coach Brent Martin said. “We started both our programs around the same time, and with coach (William) Garcia here we are working to break down the barriers between our communities and wanted to come together to create a special night.”

The nightcap match was the most exciting, as the “OG” St. Pauls alumni (2010-19) faced Red Springs and it went all the way to penalty kicks. Francis Rodriguez and Rafael Valencia scored for Red Springs and Jorge Mendez and Dillon Yanosik scored for St. Pauls.

Penalty kicks came down to the fourth and fifth rounds; Red Springs missed its four penalty kick before St. Pauls’ Juan Roque made the Bulldogs’ fifth penalty kick to win the match.

Red Springs had won the earlier boys match 4-2 against the a younger group of St. Pauls alumni and current players (2019-23), advancing to face the “OG” St. Pauls team. Francis Rodriguez, Rafael Valencia and Ayham Hajran were among the goal scorers in this match.

Rodriguez was chosen as MVP of the boys matches.

St. Pauls won the girls alumni match by a 4-0 score. Sandi Garcia scored a hat trick and Karen Aguilar had a 40-yard goal. Garcia was MVP of the girls match, as chosen by the opposing team.

“It was a great event that really brought together our soccer communities and showed what we can achieve together in the northern part of Robeson County with the game of soccer,” Martin said. “People love the game in our community, and to be able to put the rivalry aside and come together for a great night of soccer shows that together we can go a lot further than apart. We are looking forward to doing this great event in the future and would love for more people to become a part of our soccer programs.”