ROY HESS | Staff Writer
The matchup of state-ranked teams highlighting Friday’s action at the 37th annual Brownsville ISD Boys Soccer Tournament/Showcase ended with a 1-0 victory for the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers on their home field.
Brownsville Veterans, the eigth-ranked Class 5A team in the state by the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches, prevailed on an early second-half penalty kick over San Antonio Reagan, a Class 6A state finalist one year ago that is ranked No. 4 in Texas in 6A this season by TASCO.
The three-day, 24-team BISD event continues at 9 a.m. today with matches at Brownsville Veterans, Hanna and Rivera. There is no championship match this year, just three or four full 80-minute games for each team throughout the three days.
On Friday, following a tripping call on the Rattlers in the penalty area about 10 minutes into the second half, Brownsville Veterans’ Albert Maradiaga drilled a strong penalty-kick attempt into the right corner of the net to give the Chargers the only score they needed against Reagan.
Some might argue it was an insignificant winning result for Brownsville Veterans considering it was a tournament match that had no bearing on the upcoming District 32-5A race that starts Jan. 25.
But the Chargers begged to differ.
“This is pre-district, as we all know, but a win like this is great motivation,” said Mark Boswell, a junior forward/midfielder for the Chargers. “We’re playing well, and we’re not going to stop. We’re going to keep pushing forward, keep playing smarter and keep improving.”
Alberto Vasquez, the Brownsville Veterans coach, was in total agreement.
“This is the reason why we’re happy to have a team like Reagan come down to our tournament (for the first time),” Vasquez said. “When we knew they were coming, I really wanted us to play them, so that’s pretty much why we scheduled this game. We were really looking forward to facing them.
“I was really hoping our guys would come out and play a good game, and they did,” Vasquez added. “It was a great match all around for both teams. We had our opportunity (on the penalty kick), and we took advantage of it. It’s great to win this type of game (between state-ranked opponents).”
Each team was missing players due to injuries. Also, the Rattlers had a pair of players red-carded in their 2-1 win on penalty kicks against Hanna during Thursday’s opening day of the tournament/showcase, so those two players had to sit out the match against Brownsville Veterans.
Reagan coach Gilbert Villarreal said it was a competitive game against the Chargers that could have gone either way.
“We played a very good team that is very well-coached, well-organized and plays hard,” Villarreal said. “For us to come down and play these Brownsville teams in their own city and in their back yards on the fields at their schools, (it’s a challenge). I thought we played fairly well, even though we had several players missing. They did as well, and it was (still) a good game.
“It’s good for us to battle through some of the adversity we’re facing and try to find a winning result,” Villarreal added. “They got the PK, which in my opinion was a call that could have gone either way. It was probably something the ref had to call. Congratulations to Veterans. They did very well.”
Reagan wraps up play in the BISD event at 1 p.m. today at Rivera against the Raiders.
Brownsville Veterans, which defeated Harlingen South 7-0 on Thursday, returns to its home field at 1 p.m. today to complete tournament play against Los Fresnos.
In all, 12 matches are scheduled today, with the last three games set for 3 p.m. at the three tournament sites.