By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
With the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs in sight, Tuesday’s District 32-5A soccer match between Porter and PSJA High, teams from opposite ends of the spectrum in the standings, ended predictably and decisively in the unbeaten Cowboys’ favor.
Already having secured the 32-5A championship, the Cowboys (13-0, 38 points) dominated play from start to finish to capture a 7-0 victory against the last-place Bears (1-12, four points) at Brownsville Sports Park.
“We’re playing together as a team, and the results are coming in,” said Porter’s Uriel Sepulveda, a junior forward/midfielder who scored a pair of goals Tuesday. “It’s not because of just one person, it’s everyone playing together and everyone touching the ball.
“We have unfinished business (after not making the playoffs last year),” added Sepulveda, who has come back from an injury. “We have to work hard so we can get that (state) medal that we want.”
The Cowboys led 1-0 at intermission thanks to Ricky Vidal, who scored on a header after receiving a centering pass from the right side during the 17th minute.
Porter continually peppered the Bears goalkeeper with strong shots throughout the opening 40 minutes, including a direct kick that went off the left post early on.
Still, Vidal’s tally was the Cowboys’ only first-half score against a PSJA High team that seemed content to congregate its players on the defensive end at the expense of its offensive attack.
“I think the Bears were happy with the score being 1-0 at the half,” said Porter coach Jose Espitia, whose team appears set to face Edinburg Vela in the opening round of the playoffs later this month. “They were playing a defensive game. But sometimes when you play to not give up too many goals, you end up giving up many.”
If the Cowboys were somewhat ineffective at finishing their many chances during the opening half, they turned things around in a big way and exploded by scoring four goals within an 11-minute span midway through the second half, leaving no doubt about which team would win.
During the 56th minute, Gabriel Trejo drove a hard shot into the net from close range to make it 2-0 after the ball was put into play on an indirect free kick inside the 18-yard box. The ball went off the wall and came to Trejo, who promptly deposited it into the goal from close range on the left side.
That goal ignited the Porter scoring spree as teammates Enrique Soto, Julio Perez and Sepulveda each added a tally during the next 11 minutes to make it 5-0 with 13 minutes remaining.
Vidal and Sepulveda each added their second goals of the night during the final minutes to complete the scoring.
The Cowboys aren’t at their peak just yet, Porter assistant coach Eduardo Buentello said.
“We still feel that we need to improve more,” he said. “I think the real tests for us are going to come in the playoffs. It’ll be a new season, and our players know that. I believe we’re going to pick up our level (of play).”