By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
BROWNSVILLE — The Battle of Southmost came early this soccer season.
Brownsville schools and neighboring rivals Porter and Lopez met Saturday in the final of the inaugural Southmost Classic boys soccer tournament.
Thanks to an early goal, the Cowboys prevailed 1-0 on their home field over the Lobos for the tournament title on the first weekend of the new UIL soccer campaign.
The Cowboys and Lobos were hosts of the three-day, 10-team tournament with pool-play matches Thursday and Friday before Saturday’s semifinals, third-place game and final were played.
It won’t be long until the two teams meet again as the Lobos return to Porter’s field on Jan. 26 to open District 32-5A action.
“It was nothing less than what we were expecting,” said Porter coach Jose Espitia, a former soccer player for the Lobos and a Lopez graduate who also served as a Lopez assistant coach when the Lobos won state in 2004. “Every time you play Lopez it’s something special and it’s always hard-fought, especially lately — actually, all the time.
“I hadn’t seen Lopez play yet (this season), but we had heard very good things about them,” Espitia added. “It was tough to take the win. Our players gave it all they had. We told the guys to go out and have fun and play the way they know how to play.
“It was one more Battle of Southmost (in the storied series) and it was historical because it was the first Southmost Classic final. We told the guys they were going to leave their names in history (by winning). Then again, (we also have to look at it as) just a preseason tournament and what really matters is District (32-5A).”
The fans packed the stands at Porter for Saturday afternoon’s final and barely had settled into their seats when the Cowboys were awarded a penalty kick on a knockdown call in the penalty area against the Lobos. The call came just two minutes into the match.
Oscar Garcia took the PK for the Cowboys and sent a well-placed shot into the right corner of the goal. Porter’s 1-0 advantage stood up the rest of the way for the victory in the 60-minute match.
As play continued, Porter goalkeeper Isaac Acevedo, a freshman, made several solid stops to keep the Lobos scoreless.
Earlier Saturday in the semifinals, Lopez rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to win 3-2 against Laredo LBJ as Baltazar Cerda registered his second hat trick of the tournament for the Lobos.
Porter won its semifinal 1-0 earlier in the day against Laredo United South on a second-half penalty kick by Harambe Garcia.
“We try our best, we fight until the end and we came out on top,” said Harambe Garcia, a senior central defender who is not related to Oscar Garcia. “These tournament games help us to see our mistakes and fix them before district.”
Added Oscar Garcia, a junior central defender, “This tournament was just like a practice, so we can’t get too hyped up about winning it. We still have to keep on practicing hard and wait for the (district) season to begin.”
Porter is now 4-0-2 to start the 2018 season, while Lopez is 5-1.
“As expected, we knew Porter was going to press our defense and look for the counterattack,” Lopez coach Amadeo Escandon said. “I feel we could have made better choices when we had the ball because there were plenty of open spaces. However, we did not take advantage of them.”
Saturday’s third-place game at Lopez was won 1-0 by LBJ against United South.
The day started off with Los Fresnos defeating Laredo United 1-0 in a consolation game.
Saturday’s championship match was moved back to start at 1 p.m. instead of noon after a Lopez fan suffered an apparent heart attack while watching the semifinal at Lopez between the Lobos and LBJ. CPR was administered to the Lopez fan, and once stabilized, he was taken to the hospital for observation. Further information about the man’s condition was not immediately known at press time.