FREDDY GONZALEZ | Valley Morning Star
HARLINGEN — PSJA Southwest’s Daniel Salinas scored two goals in the first half and one with two minutes remaining in the game as the Javelinas defeated the Harlingen Cardinals 4-0 Thursday evening at Boggus Stadium in a Class 6A bi-district playoff contest.
The loss put an end to Harlingen’s memorable season that saw the Cardinals make its first playoff appearance in 10 years.
“This year we did something that nobody thought we could do which was to get back to the postseason,” said Harlingen head coach Johnny Guillen. “We wanted to keep going on but Southwest is a good team and they’re well coached, and it looks like they’ve played together for a while and they are a great team.
“On a positive note, out of the 22 guys we have 18 are returning so we’re going to have a solid core next year. I know Harlingen South was young, too, so both of us should have a decent teams coming back.”
The Javelinas’ Salinas might have scored three goals, but it was his teammate, Alberto Avila, who scored the opening goal of the game from a header inside the box with 17 minutes remaining in the first half. But there was more to come.
Salinas was a constant threat for the Harlingen back four making dangerous runs from the midfield and with 10 minutes left before the half, he got a good look at goal and made his opportunity count as he curled a right-footed shot around the keeper from near distance.
Four minutes later Salinas struck again through a long-distance shot to put Southwest up 3-0.
“The objective was to win tonight and we did that,” said PSJA Southwest head coach Juan Arturo Rodriguez. “The team performed at its best from top to bottom, and even our subs came in and did well and I think we did a good job.
“We studied them (Harlingen) well and we made sure that our style of play was applied and not theirs.”
In the second half, Harlingen’s Rick Deleon made some outstanding saves to keep the score at 3-0, but Salinas ultimately found himself one-on-one with Deleon and put away his third goal of the night.