GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
DONNA — As the Donna High Redskins and Donna North Chiefs were dueling through extra rounds of penalty kicks with their playoff hopes at stake, Donna High coach Mario Hernandez looked to his bench for the most calm, concentrated players.
On Tuesday night, they happened to be a pair of freshmen. Hugo Rodriguez scored on a low shot into the left side of the net, then Victor Bravo put the winner right down the middle in the seventh round, keeping Donna High in playoff contention with a 2-1 (5-4 PKs) win.
“I was really, really happy,” Bravo said. “I didn’t feel the pressure. I felt just relaxed, and just scored. I forgot everything and tried to score.”
The win bumps Donna to 20 points in District 32-5A, good for fifth place. Despite the loss, Donna North moves from 20 points to 21, while Brownsville Pace defeated Edcouch-Elsa 6-1 on Tuesday to jump from 20 points to 23.
Because Pace owns two head-to-head wins against Donna, the Redskins can only advance to the playoffs with a win and a Chiefs loss on Friday.
Donna High will host Edcouch-Elsa, while North travels to face PSJA High.
“I’m very proud,” Hernandez said. “We shouldn’t be in this position with the points, and I don’t like to be in this position, but hey, it happens. We just have to play it on Friday and win the game.”
Pulling out Tuesday’s win required an improbable comeback in penalty kicks, as the Redskins converted just one of their first three chances while the Chiefs started two for two.
Donna High proceeded to put four consecutive shots into the back of the net, while on the other end keeper Elias De La Rosa stepped up with a pair of saves.
“In my opinion, they had the win, and they let it go,” Hernandez said.
North had a chance to extend penalty kicks to an eighth round, but De La Rosa lunged to his right to punch away the final shot. De La Rosa calmly walked towards the bench as he was rushed by his teammates, many of who jumped on him in celebration.
“I feel like for me, my team is my responsibility,” De La Rosa said. “What I was thinking was just, ‘Stop the ball.’ I was just thinking about stopping everything. I couldn’t, but I could stop the last one.”
De La Rosa stopped nearly everything thrown at him in regulation, too, protecting Donna’s 1-0 lead until Donna North’s leading scorer, Luis Garcia, broke through with 13:13 to play after a cross from Gabriel Magallan.
Donna High struck first at 19:30 of the first half, with Guadalupe Gonzales scoring into the upper left corner of the net on a booming free kick from 28 yards out.
Both teams narrowly missed on a would-be game winner. Just moments into the game, North’s Magallan put a header into the back of the net, but the play was called offsides. Donna also sent a shot off the crossbar in the first half and saw another dribble just left on the goal in the second.
Donna North coach Francisco Alejo said Donna’s defense made it nearly impossible for his team to find any space to operate. But, in the end, his Chiefs positioned themselves to secure a playoff berth on Friday.
“We’re still in the driver’s seat, even though we lost today,” Alejo said. “We have to go and finish this on Friday against the PSJA Bears. We’re going to have to bring the 3 points home.”