BY NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Trying to predict the UIL soccer playoffs, especially in the Rio Grande Valley, can be difficult.
On paper, District 32-6A champion Brownsville Rivera was heavily favored against Edinburg North in the opening round of the postseason.
On the field, however, the Cougars gave the Raiders a strong challenge that had the two-time state champions sweating during the opening moments.
Rivera was able to avoid the upset Friday night behind a hat trick by junior Salvador De Leon to win 3-1 over Edinburg North at Richard Flores Stadium.
In the end, an experienced Rivera squad capitalized on its chances, while the young North squad did not.
Coach Salvador Garcia wasn’t surprised his Rivera team was pushed to the limit in its first playoff game.
“There’s no No. 1 (ranking). Records don’t matter, and everything is 0-0,” Garcia said. “The rankings, the standings don’t mean anything. We had a slow start and they took advantage of us. We took until we were up 2-0 to start playing our style.”
Before De Leon found the net for the first time, it was all Cougars on possession. During the first 10 minutes, they had multiple looks from in close. The best look came almost 8 minutes in, when Jorge Rivera laid the ball off to Jose Cano, who shot the ball just wide of Danny Esquivel in net.
Directly after the North crowd was up-in-arms for an apparent non-call, Rivera was awarded a free-kick from just outside the area. The ball smashed the crossbar and found the waiting foot of De Leon, who made no mistake from in close.
“Our coach always tells us, ‘Don’t ever be nervous inside the box.’ The people that should be nervous are the defenders,” De Leon said. “I remembered to stay calm, and I was in the right position.”
North had three prime opportunities to tie the game around the 30-minute mark of the first half. One shot was saved by the goalie, but the next two were made by Rivera defenders desperately throwing their bodies in front of the ball to preserve the lead.
During the final minute of the first half, De Leon scored on a pretty shot that hit the post before resting behind the line for a 2-0 lead to take the air out of the home side.
Edinburg North left the field with long faces, but the 10-minute halftime speech was enough for Cougars coach Elias Moran to have his team ready for another strong 40 minutes against an elite program.
“We were not lucky because of the circumstances. They got a couple of goals, but we came back. We never came up,” Moran said. “We had possession of the ball and we competed, and I’m happy because 90 percent of this team is coming back next year.”
De Leon scored his third goal after a nice pass with 21:52 to play in the game. He said he didn’t want all the credit for the offense, but was soaking in the moment.
“It’s a blessing, scoring those three goals is something only you can dream of and thanks to God it became a reality today,” De Leon said. “It’s an honor to play for this team, for these coaches. Just to put on the shirt of Rivera High School. It is a tradition and hopefully, we keep it going.”
North scored its lone tally when Loera stole a ball from a defender and was able to beat the keeper with a low shot. The Cougars didn’t threaten to tie the game, but they had chances to cut the lead to 1. Esquivel was up to the challenge of a powerful free-kick in the final 15 minutes.
“We started this season with a new team. It was a new process for us,” Moran said. “We came to this game with the objective to pretty much give it our best, to make it our best game of the season. We faced a really great champion from Brownsville, really well-coached. We demonstrated a lot of heart. We were mentally tough.”
Rivera advances to face Laredo LBJ, which beat McAllen Memorial 5-1 in bi-district.