By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
Two Brownsville ISD teams entered Cabaniss Field with a chance to go to state, and only one could move on.
Enrique Soto scored during the fifth minute of the second extra-time period to lift the Porter Cowboys past the Pace Vikings 2-1 in extra time to win the Region IV-5A championship Saturday at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi, advancing to the UIL state soccer tournament April 13-16 in Georgetown.
Porter beat Pace twice in District 32-5A matches this season, so both teams anticipated a hard-fought, physical match between familiar rivals on Saturday.
“It was exactly what we expected,” Porter coach Jose Espitia said. “It was Brownsville against Brownsville. Every time Brownsville plays Brownsville, it’s a championship game. We had told the kids they have nothing to lose. They’re going to give it their all and it’s going to come down to extra time or penalty kicks. Even though Pace was very defensive against the wind, they took advantage their opportunities.
“It was a very even game, and we knew who made the least mistakes was going to win and take advantage of their opportunities. Fortunately, they didn’t give up.”
Alexis Anzures barreled down the left flank and into Pace’s box, crossing the ball low for Soto. The senior midfielder shot the ball past Pace goalkeeper Ervin Rocha to put Porter ahead for the first time all match, and the Cowboys held on for the win.
The goal capped an outstanding weekend for Soto, who scored Porter’s first goal and assisted on the go-ahead goal in the team’s 4-1 Region IV-5A semifinal win against Alamo Heights.
Soto gives the credit to his teammates for setting him up with chances at the goal.
“It was mostly Alexis Anzures’ assist,” he said. “He did most of the work through the left side. I got myself separated from the other teammates of Pace and knew he always crosses to the other side of the goal. I was just there in the moment and shot it. I didn’t think about it.”
Pace opened the match’s scoring bill with a set-piece header from Benlly Galvan during the 46th minute.
The goal didn’t keep the Cowboys dong for long, and they tied the match when Alexis Armendariz won Porter a penalty kick and Marco Don Juan hit it home for the equalizer.
“When you score a goal on us, we get more motivated to tie the game,” Soto said. “It’s like a wake-up call for us. It really helped us a lot, scoring the goal. We woke up.”
Pace went down to 10 men when defender Johan Rios earned his second yellow card of the match with less than four to go until extra time.
Pace coach Mario Zamora wanted to score one more goal and let the defense, which had a solid afternoon against Porter, decided the game. The disadvantage of having only 10 players during extra time kept that from happening.
“Against this type of team, you have to be 11 (strong),” Zamora said. “(Going) one man down was hard for us. We tried to keep in it in the first half of the extra time. We had two chances but we couldn’t score. It was a fair win.”
The Vikings battled through extra time despite the disadvantage, but Soto’s goal was too much for them to overcome.
Porter’s win gives Espitia his second regional championship as the school’s soccer coach and sends them to the UIL state soccer tournament, where the team will represent the city of Brownsville along with the Lopez Lobos, who won their Region IV-6A championship match over San Antonio Reagan 1-0 also on Saturday.
Brownsville will have two chances to defend its title as the soccer capital of Texas, and it’s taken an entire community to give BISD teams chances at state titles.
“It says a lot about Brownsville,” Espitia said. “We have a lot of competition. It’s a lot of the community. All of those leagues, all those people involved with soccer that help us with the development of all these players. They’ve been playing so much and they’re not afraid of these games. That was a turning point for Brownsville ever since 2004 (when) Lopez won (the 2004 4A state title), Porter won (the 2006 5A state title). It’s been a turning point ever since.”
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @joshuabvherald.