By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The boys and girls soccer teams of Los Fresnos have made strong showings during the first half of the District 32-6A race.
Both the Falcons and Lady Falcons are district leaders going into Friday’s matches, which mark the end of the first round of 32-6A action.
Thanks to a 1-0 victory at home Tuesday against Rivera, the Los Fresnos boys are now atop the 32-6A standings at 5-1 with 16 points. Close behind are Rivera and Hanna, each also 5-1 with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Fourth-place Harlingen South is the other team in close contention at 4-2 with 12 points.
“I’m proud of my boys,” said Falcons coach Javier Navarrete, whose team completes the first round of district at home Friday against Weslaco High. “They have a lot of faith. That’s what our season is based on is faith. They showed it against Rivera. They hung in there and they played for each other. We’re excited about our chances.”
Coming off Tuesday’s 6-0 road win against Rivera, the Los Fresnos girls are moving forward with a 6-0 record and 18 points in their district race.
Behind the Lady Falcons in the standings are Harlingen South (5-1, 15 points) and Harlingen High (4-2, 12 points) in second and third place, respectively. Also in the hunt for the playoffs are Hanna and Rivera (each 3-3 with nine points apiece) and Weslaco East (2-4, six points).
“We’re looking forward to great competition (throughout the rest of district) and we just want to make sure that we’re ready for the playoffs,” said Lady Falcons coach Patricia K. Hernandez, whose girls will be at Weslaco High on Friday.
32-5A CURRENT SITUATION
Boys and girls teams reached the end of the first round in District 32-5A on Tuesday.
As expected, it’s become an even, closely fought battle in both the boys and girls races with no one team in 32-5A looking far superior to the others.
For the boys, Brownsville Veterans Memorial ended the first round of district atop the 32-5A standings at 6-1 with 18 points followed by Lopez and Porter tied for second (each 5-2 with 15 points apiece). Donna High (3-4, 10 points) holds down fourth place, while Pace and Donna North follow next and are tied (each 3-4 with nine points apiece).
Coming off Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to the Pace Lady Vikings on penalty kicks, the Lopez girls remain atop the 32-5A standings at 6-1 with 17 points. In second place is Porter at 4-3 with 13 points. Pace (5-2, 12 points), Brownsville Veterans (4-3, 12 points) and Edcouch-Elsa (3-4, 12 points) are all tied for third. Donna North and Donna High come next (each 3-4 with nine points apiece).
Teams in 32-5A enjoy an open date Friday before beginning the second half of district action on Tuesday.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Porter Cowboys and Cowgirls played all their first-round district matches on the road as they patiently waited for the completion of their new, on-campus artificial turf field. It is similar to the one recently installed at Lopez.
The finished field was officially christened Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and is ready for action.
On Tuesday, the Porter teams begin the second round at home with “Battle of Southmost” matches against Lopez, the boys playing at 5:30 p.m. with the girls to follow at 7:30 p.m.
“Our team is going through a renewal process and we hope to get our pieces together and regroup versus Lopez on our new turf field,” said Porter coach Jose Espitia, whose Cowboys prevailed at Edcouch-Elsa 2-0 in overtime on Tuesday. “The group is excited about that (new field), and what better way to inaugurate it (than by having a ‘Battle of Southmost’ matchup).
“Being back home with our people there for our first game ever played on our newly installed turf (field) is definitely motivation,” Espitia added.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess