By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Reyes Prado and Guillermo “Willy” Santos, longtime friends and Hanna graduates, meet as opposing soccer coaches when the Hanna Golden Eagles play the Laredo United South Panthers in the Class 6A regional quarterfinals.
Their third-round playoff match is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Roma’s Gladiator Stadium with the winner advancing to Region IV-6A Tournament at beginning Friday at Brownsville Sports Park.
The Metro area had 14 teams participating when the UIL state playoffs began March 24. After two rounds, seven are still alive in the postseason and play Tuesday. They include boys teams from Hanna, Lopez, Porter, Pace and Port Isabel plus girls squads from Los Fresnos and Port Isabel.
Hanna and United South are familiar with one another after having scrimmaged in Laredo in late December.
This time, the stakes are considerably higher.
“United South is a good team with some good strikers and midfielders,” Prado said. “Actually, they have good players all over, and so do we. Every step (in the playoffs) gets tougher. We just beat a district champion (McAllen High 1-0 in the area round (Friday) and now we’re facing another district champion. We believe in ourselves and we like our matchup.”
Prado played for former Hanna coach Juan de Dios Garcia before graduating in 1989. Santos also played for Garcia and graduated a few years later in the 1990s. Prado helped out Garcia with the team when Santos played for the Eagles.
“Willy was an awesome midfielder,” Prado said of the United South coach. “We’ve been good friends (since then).”
Prado coached Hanna’s girls soccer team when Garcia retired in 2012 and he’s directing the Hanna boys since 2013, the year the Eagles advanced to the Class 5A state final.
Concerning Tuesday’s game, Garcia said his loyalties are split between his two former players.
“You don’t know who to go for,” Garcia said. “They both deserve it.”
The Lopez boys go against La Joya Juarez-Lincoln at 7 p.m. at La Joya ISD Stadium with the winner also advancing to the Region IV-6A Tournament at Brownsville Sports Park.
The Los Fresnos Lady Falcons have a chance to reach the Region IV-6A Tournament for the second straight year if they can get past Harlingen South at 6:30 p.m. at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium in Los Fresnos.
The Lady Falcons, who reached the Region IV-6A final last season, beat South twice by scores of 2-1 earlier this year in District 32-6A competition. The two teams tied for second place in 32-6A with 10-4 records and 30 points.
The Class 5A regional quarterfinals find the Pace and Porter boys playing in the Upper Valley. Pace is at Valley View and Porter takes on Sharyland High at Mission’s Tom Landry Stadium. Both games start at 7 p.m.
The winners advance to the Region IV-5A Tournament Friday at Corpus Christi’s Cabaniss Field.
Port Isabel’s girls play Rockport-Fulton at 5:30 p.m. at Kingsville’s Mopac Stadium, while the Port Isabel boys go against Hidalgo at 7 p.m. at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium, site of Friday’s Region IV-4A Tournament.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess