FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
While a number of baseball and softball fields may have been decimated by the recent rainfall, soccer fields also felt the impact.
On the eve of possibly their biggest game of the season, the Harlingen South Hawks had to resort to holding practice in their gymnasium.
“We were lucky enough be able to practice in the gym,” said Harlingen South head soccer coach Julian Robles. “We can’t spend too much time without touching the ball. Yesterday we didn’t practice because of the rain so we decided to send everybody home.
“Today at around 3:30 it kept raining a lot and we weren’t going to be able to practice so we asked for the gym and thankfully they cleared out the gym for us and we were able to practice in there.”
The Hawks are hoping to clinch the fourth seed in a difficult District 32-6A with a win over Weslaco East tonight.
As of now, the teams that have already clinched are Los Fresnos at 9-3 (29 points), Brownsville Rivera (9-3, 27 points) and Brownsville Hanna (9-3, 27 points).
Currently the Hawks sit in fourth place at 8-4 (24 points), just ahead of Weslaco East, which is at 7-5 (19 points).
With a win today, the Hawks could solidify a spot in the playoffs. However should they lose, the Hawks would need to win their final district match against a tough Brownsville Rivera team next week.
For the Hawks, Eric Lopez and Angel Ortega have been brought up from the JV dark squad and coach Robles said, “They have been playing very well and coming up clutch for the team.”
FIRST YEAR IN THE BOOKS: Rio Hondo’s inaugural season went almost as well as it could have gone. The first-year Bobcats finished with a record of 4-4 (third seed) and head into the postseason ready to take on either Grulla or Progreso in the Class 4A bi-district round.
“I feel my team has come a long way and is up there with the best of them,” said Rio Hondo head soccer coach Candido Ochoa. “We played good for a first-year team, but we just didn’t get the results in tight games.
“We played good against the district champions (La Feria), but sometimes in soccer the ball doesn’t bounce your way and the other team just makes a couple more plays than you.”
In their final district game of the season, the Bobcats defeated Port Isabel 4-3, giving them the chance to secure a third seed and avoid playing last year’s Class 4A state runners-up Progreso.
Last season, the Red Ants lost the Class 4A state championship game 1-0 (4-3) in a penalty kick shootout against Palestine.
Currently, Progreso sits on top of District 32-4A, with Grulla following right behind.