By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
The Hanna Golden Eagles started off with a win Thursday on the opening day of the 37th annual Brownsville ISD Boys Soccer Tournament/Showcase.
Nevermind that it was a slow start.
The Eagles spotted Edinburg High a 1-0 first-half lead before rallying with three second-half goals to win comfortably 3-1 on their home field.
The three-day BISD event features 24 teams playing full 80-minute matches at the campuses of Brownsville Veterans Memorial, Hanna and Rivera. Each team is playing three or four matches. The tournament/showcase runs through Saturday. There will be no championship match this year.
Hanna coach Reyes Prado was feeling pretty good about his team after the victory over the Bobcats.
“We’re doing real well when we have a complete team and everyone is playing his position,” said Prado, who returns three starters from the team that advanced three rounds in the Class 6A playoffs one season ago. “We had to start with two or three different guys in the lineup (against Edinburg High), but we did well in the second half.
“I’m surprised with how well we’re passing the ball and how my three new midfielders in the center (Luis Renterria, Jose Guerrero and Sebastian Gonzalez) are playing,” Prado added. “When we are pressured, the guys are welcoming the pressure. We’re passing the ball quickly and moving out of tight spaces. In those situations, we’re moving the ball forward, so that’s good.
“Defensively, we tend to recover a lot of balls there in the midfield, and it’s been helping us big time.”
Trailing 1-0 during in the second half, Hanna’s Miguel Payan converted a penalty kick to tie the score. Teammates Kevin Ocha and Renterria added goals down the stretch to give Hanna its 3-1 win.
The Eagles completed the first day with a Thursday night match against San Antonio Reagan, the 6A team that is ranked No. 1 in Region IV-6A and No. 4 in the state by the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches (TASCO).
“We’re going to treat it like it’s against any other Valley team,” Prado said.
The Eagles were edged 2-1 on penalty kicks by the Rattlers.
Another local team with a strong start to the tournament/showcase was Pace. The Vikings opened their season with a 3-0 triumph against McAllen Rowe on Thursday morning at Rivera.
Pace led 2-0 at halftime against the Warriors. Scoring the Vikings’ goals were Jonathan Martin, Jonathan Mendoza and Erik Chavez.
The Vikings capped the day with a 1-0 late afternoon victory over Los Fresnos at Hanna.
The only score was a high, arcing shot by Chavez that went through the Los Fresnos goalkeeper’s hands and settled into the back of the net with 23 minutes remaining.
“I’m glad that we’re doing on the field what we’ve been training,” Vikings coach Mario A. Zamora said. “That’s what I’m asking the players to do. Obviously, we still have a lot of things to correct and plenty to continue working on, but I’m glad that what we did today is what we’ve been working on.
“I’m happy for our two wins today,” he added. “We’re going to continue training hard so we can be ready for district.”
The highlight of today’s schedule figures to be the 5 p.m. match at Brownsville Veterans between the Chargers and Reagan. Both teams are state-ranked by TASCO. Brownsville Veterans is No. 8 in the state in Class 5A.