By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
Going to the Region IV-5A Tournament is exactly what the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers envisioned they’d be doing at this point of the soccer season.
Having won three games already in the Class 5A playoffs, the Chargers (23-3-1) go against the Kerrville Tivy Antlers (22-2-1) at 2 p.m. Friday in a regional semifinal at Corpus Christi’s Cabaniss Field. The winner plays Saturday in the regional final against Valley View or San Antonio Southwest.
“It has been a great season (to this point),” said Moises Navarro, a senior goalkeeper and two-year starter for the Chargers. “There is more to come.”
This marks Brownsville Veterans’ third straight season to reach the regional tournament. The Chargers have played in the regional final during each of the past two years at Cabaniss Field.
“This is just another step that we want to take to get to where we want to go,” Chargers coach Alberto Vasquez said. “It’s not easy. Just making it to this level one year is very difficult. For us to be able to make it three years in a row just shows the amount of work our players are putting in and how much they really want it.
“In the game of soccer, anything can happen,” Vasquez added. “The ball bounces wrong for you just once and that can be the end. We just have to make sure we stay focused, stay hungry, be protective inside (of the goal) and hopefully things go our way.”
The Chargers have a starting lineup comprised of six senior starters, three juniors, one sophomore and one freshman.
Navarro is the goalkeeper, with Gerardo Valle and Israel Barron at center defender and Frank Moreno II and Jose Capistran at defender on the sides. Juan Amieva is the defensive midfielder, Cesar Cepeda and Alberto Maradiaga are center midfielders, Orlando Sanchez and Javier Ballesteros are on the midfield wings, and Mark Boswell is at forward.
Among those helping off the bench are Diego Bernal, Eduardo Martinez and Rey Gonzalez.
“We have not done (everything) that we want to do, and we’re not where we want to be at (yet),” Moreno said. “We still have a couple of games to try to accomplish what we want to do.
“We still haven’t played a perfect game from the beginning of the season until now,” Moreno added. “I believe we’re going to have to do that in regionals. We have to try to play like never before.”
The Chargers opened the playoffs with a 3-0 win against Sharyland Pioneer in bi-district and a 5-1 area-round victory against Laredo Cigarroa. A 2-1 overtime triumph against Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial during last Friday’s regional quarterfinal clinched a berth at the regional tournament for the Chargers.
The Cigarroa and Corpus Christi Veterans matches were played at Cabaniss Field.
“We’ve been improving (throughout the season), which is really important,” Boswell said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, and we need to keep going on a high note from now on to make sure we get to state.
“We just need to trust in one another because we know what we’re capable of doing,” Boswell added. “What we’ve done so far (in district and the playoffs) gives us motivation and shows us what we’re able to do.”