By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
If and when the University Interscholastic League allows, the Brownsville Veterans Memorial girls and boys will play their final regular-season District 32-5A soccer matches against Edcouch-Elsa.
It’s a doubleheader scheduled to be played at Brownsville Veterans, and it’s the only game action left pending on the 32-5A soccer schedule.
A UIL ruling halting games, and now even banning practices, puts things in limbo for all school spring sports due to heightened concerns over COVID-19 (coronavirus).
Other districts in the Rio Grande Valley are pending final regular-season soccer matches as well.
On Thursday, the UIL announced its ban on all school activities, including sports, has been extended until at least May 4. Previously, the UIL ban was supposed to extend until at least April 14.
With Brownsville ISD now on an extended Spring Break that figures to last until at least March 27, Brownsville Veterans girls soccer coach Luis Troncoso wonders if his team will get a chance to play at all, especially now that the new date of May 4 has been announced as the soonest time for competition.
He certainly hopes so.
“The way things are going, we don’t know if our game with Edcouch-Elsa is going to happen or not,” said Troncoso, whose Lady Chargers have qualified for the playoffs as the second-place team from 32-5A with an 11-2 record and 29 points. “Things seem to be getting more serious, not even just by the day, but by the hour, actually.
“The bottom line is just to let our student/athletes know to stay safe and to follow the steps they need to take to be safe,” Troncoso added. “Our school district is taking all of this into consideration and is trying to make the appropriate decisions.”
The last time the Lady Chargers came together for a practice and had a team meeting was March 13.
“My message to my girls (then) was to not relax on any of this and be serious about it as well,” the Lady Chargers coach said. “Everyone needs to do their part, and hopefully this is something that can go away quickly.
“This is obviously an unprecedented situation like everyone is saying,” Troncoso added. “Having sports at our schools is a big motivational thing for our kids. We should appreciate what we have because we never know when it might be taken away. Hopefully we can come back and finish our season, but if that doesn’t happen, obviously the safety of everyone is the biggest priority. We hope things will be better soon and we can resume activities as normal.”
32-5A GIRLS PLAYOFF MATCHUPS
The girls playoff qualifiers from 32-5A are set with the exception of fourth place. The two teams in contention for that 32-5A fourth-place postseason berth are Brownsville Pace (8-6, 25 points) and Edcouch-Elsa (8-5, 23 points).
Pace’s regular season is complete, but the Lady Vikings are awaiting the outcome of the Brownsville Veterans-E-E match to see if they’ll be a playoff qualifier.
Regarding the bi-district matchups involving 32-5A girls teams going against teams from District 31-5A, it would be Sharyland High vs. Pace or E-E, Brownsville Porter vs. Mission Veterans Memorial, Sharyland Pioneer vs. Brownsville Lopez and Brownsville Veterans vs. PSJA Memorial.
Due to Thursday’s UIL announcement, the soonest those playoffs could start is now May 4.
32-6A GIRLS PLAYOFF SCENARIO
The four girls teams from District 32-6A that are playoff qualifiers are Harlingen South, Harlingen High, Los Fresnos and Brownsville Rivera.
With one date for District 31-6A regular-season competition still remaining, the four girls teams that appear to be the playoff qualifiers from 31-6A are Edinburg Vela, Donna North, Edinburg High and Edinburg North.
Matchups with 32-6A teams for bi-district would be determined if and when 31-6A teams get to play their final regular-season games.
32-4A GIRLS PLAYOFF QUALIFIERS
Brownsville Jubilee, Rio Hondo, La Feria and Lyford are the playoff qualifiers for the girls from District 32-4A.
Jubilee and Rio Hondo were 32-4A co-champions. Jubilee added to the district titles it captured earlier this school year in volleyball and girls basketball.