BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
DONNA — If a western Rio Grande Valley boys soccer power can deal with the schools from Brownsville, La Joya Juarez Lincoln is that program.
The Huskies mushed their way to the state title game last year and easily knifed their way through the District 30-6A schedule this season, losing only once. Juarez-Lincoln’s latest playoff opponent was Brownsville Hanna, which edged the Huskies 3-2 earlier this season.
On Friday night, 30-5-1 Juarez-Lincoln flexed its muscles once again, letting loose a barrage of second-half goals to bury the Brownsville Hanna Eagles 8-2 in a Class 6A regional quarterfinal game in Donna. The Huskies were intent on proving they were better than Tuesday’s close result against Edinburg Economedes in the area round might have indicated.
“The last game (Economedes) was a very tough game, and we didn’t play like we wanted to,” said midfielder Gerardo Reyes, who scored a hat trick on Friday. “This game, the second half was absolutely incredible. We had come out strong, and we made all our goals.”
With the victory, Juarez-Lincoln matriculates on to the Region IV tournament next week in San Antonio. Brownsville Hanna (18-7-3) was a game opponent, but the frustration and skill fueling the Huskies was just too much for the Golden Eagles to handle.
The Huskies’ Sergio Escareno and Edson Fonseca scored late in the first half to put Juarez-Lincoln up 2-0 at intermission.
Juarez-Lincoln scored its third goal two minutes into the second half. Then, Reyes found the net three times with a variety of shots over the next 20 minutes to break the game wide open and dash any hopes Hanna had of a comeback.
The Huskies went up 6-0 before the Golden Eagles scored two goals late in the match. But Juarez-Lincoln never stopped playing and hardly substituted, scoring two more late goals for good measure.
Coach Victor Ramos said his team worked hard to correct mistakes made in the game against Economedes, and he was happy with Friday’s result as he looks forward to regionals.
“We were there last year, and we won that competition and represented our region well at the state tournament,” Ramos said. “We know we will have difficult games there. We have three days before we leave here, and we have those three days to practice and get everything perfect.”