By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The Porter Cowboys were fairly content with their 3-0 Class 5A bi-district playoff victory against Sharyland Pioneer on Saturday at Sams Memorial Stadium, but not completely satisfied.
“We’re content to be passing on to the next round, but we’re not satisfied,” said Reyes Saldivar, a senior center midfielder and team captain for the Cowboys. “We can do much more.”
Regardless, District 32-5A runner-up Porter looked methodically efficient while pretty much putting on a soccer clinic against its young opponent, a team that finished third in District 31-5A and is playing its first year of UIL soccer with only a few seniors.
Yes, the Cowboys, who led 1-0 at halftime, could have done better considering the many chances they had to score against the Diamondbacks on a sunny, breezy afternoon at Sams.
Still, it was a victory and a nice way to get started in the playoffs.
“This is just one win, and we’re happy to get it out of the way,” said Uriel Sepulveda, a junior midfielder/forward and team captain for the Cowboys. “There’s still a lot more to come. We did what we had to do today and the results came in.”
There appeared to be no carryover ill effects for Porter from last week after a UIL ruling at the state level caused the Cowboys to forfeit two games and surrender the 32-5A title to PSJA Southwest.
“What has happened in district (with the forfeits that cost us the 32-5A title), the stats and everything else stays behind now (in the playoffs),” Cowboys coach Jose Espitia said. “Several district champions have been (eliminated and) sent home (from the playoffs) already, so something like that doesn’t really matter. What matters now is being focused, motivated and wanting it more.
“We felt that the wait (until Saturday) to play was too long (when other teams were playing Thursday and Friday),” Espitia added. “I think our players were hungry and ready to play, even though some of them were dealing with stomach viruses and stuff like that. At the last minute they felt better, and we were able to control the game, so that’s always a positive.
“Our guys were anxious to play. They were supposed to be at school at 10 a.m. (for our 2 p.m. game). Some of them were there since 9 in the morning.”
After several missed scoring opportunities, Daniel Brisenio blasted in a shot from 25-plus yards to put Porter ahead1-0 with 10 minutes gone in the opening half. Although there were shots that went off the crossbar and left post later in the half, Brisenio’s tally had put Porter ahead for good.
The second half saw two more goals scored for the Cowboys.
With 23 minutes remaining, Enrique Soto’s shot from 20 yards on the left side went past the goalkeeper and into the net. Then, with 13 and a half minutes to go, the ball came to Alexis Armendariz from the right aide, and he drilled an uncontested shot into the goal from 15 yards away, boosting the lead to 3-0.
Porter advances to play Laredo Cigarroa during the coming week in the area round of the playoffs. Details of the match are to be finalized Sunday or Monday.