GIDDINGS, Texas — “They were about to tie us, and Alixis gave us one of the most incredible saves.”
Giddings High School men’s soccer coach Pedro Eguez looks out on an empty field Wednesday as he remembers his former goalie, Alixis Hernandez.
Hernandez was one of the three victims of a crash on 290 Tuesday morning. Clemente Nava and Jesus Escalante Valdez also died in the crash.
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"I could yell at him, get on top of him, and he was like, 'Coach, I got this, coach I got this,'” Eguez said, tears in his eyes. “And that smile, that smile, I could just never get out of my mind.”
Eguez said Hernandez’s smile and personality could light up a room.
“If I could see him again, I’d say, 'Thank you man, thank you for the memories,'” Eguez said.
Eguez also taught one of the other victims, Clemente Nava. He said Nava was his student aide as well.
“I can still hear him outside my classroom, hear those cowboy boots,” Eguez recalled. “Every day, he always came out of his way to say hi to me and ask me how the team was doing.”
Eguez said he drove past the accident Tuesday morning and had a bad feeling in his stomach when he heard the victims were former Giddings High School students.
“I’ve been teaching for 15 years, and I always thought I’d see these guys later on in life. I’ve lost former students in the past, but to lose three in one day was just an incredible shock,” Eguez said.
