GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
With two of McAllen High’s top attacking options out of the picture, senior midfielder Brandon Rangel is under more pressure than ever.
Adrian Rodriguez, District 30-6A’s leading scorer in 2015, left the program to join a select club in Houston. One of his replacements, Miguel Lopez, may have suffered a season-ending ACL tear last weekend. That leaves the Bulldogs looking for scoring threats.
“The main weight falls on my captain, Brandon Rangel,” coach Fernando Segovia said. “He’s being more vocal. He’s taking on more of a leadership role. He’s done very well.”
Rangel netted 10 district goals in 2014 and produced another 11 last year despite missing almost all of the non-district season with a hamstring injury.
Segovia said Rangel returns this year in much better shape, putting more effort and emphasis on his time with the cross country team during the fall.
“Everyone looks up to him,” Segovia said. “Everyone understands he’s the captain, and in soccer the No. 10 is the one who directs the midfield. We were missing that last year at the beginning.”
McHi advanced to the Navy Bracket Championship at the Brownsville Tournament before taking down Edinburg Vela 4-1 on Tuesday. Segovia gave much of the credit to his senior midfield, which he called the team’s strongest point. Rangel is flanked by Jose Gil and Beto Silva.
“As seniors, they finally took leadership,” Segovia said. “They understand that whatever success we have has to go through them.”
GIRL IN THE MIDDLE
Lizeth Cantu came to PSJA Southwest four years ago as a striker, but coach Juan Rodriguez knew she’d be a better fit in the middle. Yes, Cantu moved like a forward, but she had the mentality of a player fit to run the offense and wear No. 10.
“It’s like every person that you move away from the goal — she questions it a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “But once she saw it and understood it, she said, ‘Yeah, this is where I belong. Now, she identifies herself as a good midfielder.”
Four years after the shift, Cantu is still a varsity fixture at the center of the Lady Javelinas formation and the team’s primary leader on the field. She is Southwest’s best distributor, an occasional scorer, and the player most often called upon to take free kicks and direct the attack.
“She’s developed big time,” Rodriguez said. “Her understanding of the game, the passing, and the movement of the game.”
Rodriguez has seen the entire team develop and take on his mentality in his four years at the helm of a new program at PSJA Southwest. Cantu is the only four-year varsity player, but the others have been in the system long enough to understand and meet Rodriguez’s expectations.
Those strengths were key last weekend, when PSJA Southwest advanced to the Silver Bracket final of the Gulf Coast Classic before losing to Corpus Christi Carroll.
“We can be on the field with any team and give them a good game,” Rodriguez said.
STRONG IN THE BACK
Behind the strong play of sweeper Maritzela Guzman and stopper Carolina Pardo, Edinburg Economedes has established itself as a strong defensive team.
The Lady Jaguars didn’t surrender a goal during their final five games at last weekend’s Brownsville Tournament, winning the Silver Division Championship.
After playing right defender last year, Guzman has slid into the sweeper role to better utilize her speed. Pardo is a returning starter at stopper.
“What we’re looking forward to right now is that the girls are getting better,” coach Robert Garcia said. “As a matter of fact, from where we’ve started until now, I’ve seen an improvement already.”
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