GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Sharyland High coach Rev Hernandez has been scouting Brownsville Porter all the way back to the regular season. In his mind, a clash between the District 31-5A champion Rattlers and 32-5A champion Cowboys was inevitable.
As the UIL bracket shook out, the matchup between two of the Valley’s premier teams happened Tuesday, in the regional quarterfinals.
“I knew they were going to give us a good fight, and they knew that, also,” Hernandez said. “I can truly tell you, the state champion is probably going to come out of this game.”
If Hernandez’s prediction holds true, it will be Porter, not Sharyland, hoisting the state title trophy in two weeks.
In a physical game during which the two sides traded chances almost evenly, the Cowboys were the ones to finally find a breakthrough in the final 10 minutes and pick up a 2-0 win on Tuesday at Tom Landry Stadium.
“They were probably our biggest challenge of the year so far, easily,” Rattlers defender Romeo De Leon said. “This is a team that was very much like us. We played similar. They played well as a team. We didn’t take advantage of the chances we got, and they did.”
Porter established itself as the Valley’s clear-cut No. 1 team in the RGVSports.com top 10 during the regular season, outscoring opponents 66-4 during a 14-0 run through District 32-5A. Still undefeated at 24-0-1, Porter is ranked No. 5 nationally by Topdrawersoccer.com.
To try to neutralize Porter’s quick-touch style of offense, Sharyland put its size to work, physically clashing with a Porter player every time the Cowboys tried to control the ball.
“Everyone knows Porter. Porter touches the ball,” Cowboys forward Ricky Vidal said. “So they wanted to try to try a different game style. … We keep on playing our own game, because that’s what we do best, touch the ball.“
Although the high-pressure approach limited Porter for much of the game, the Cowboys eventually netted a goal with 9:32 to play.
Enrique Soto put a shot off the far post after taking the ball into the box and cutting back inside, around a Sharyland defender. Sharyland High keeper Jacob Beber made a diving save on a rebound attempt before Vidal converted Porter’s third try from about 10 yards out.
“They didn’t allow us to do our game, so we had to sacrifice one forward practically and bring down one more midfielder in order to be able to control the tempo of the game,” Porter coach Jose Espitia said. “We don’t have the size that they have, so we wanted to make sure we control the tempo of the game and had the ball at our feet.”
Porter’s Marco Don Juan, who scored the team’s second goal as the final seconds ticked off the clock, called Friday’s game the toughest Porter has played this season.
Yellow cards and possible chances were traded in abundance by both sides as physical tackling became the norm. The Rattlers’ Edson Silva generated a few prime opportunities on the attack, even getting behind the Sharyland defense on a through ball but sending a shot wide right with about 24 minutes to play. Martin Gonzalez also just narrowly missed a potential opening, sending a header off the crossbar of the football uprights in the closing moments of the first half.
“We saw this as a state championship game ahead of time,” Espitia said. “Sharyland has the team to do it, and we know that we have the team to do it. We knew whoever came out of this one was going to do it with heart.”