By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
The Brownsville Porter Cowboys punched their tickets to the Class 5A regional quarterfinal round with a 3-0 victory over Victoria East on Monday in Corpus Christi.
Porter coach Jose Espitia said the two teams were “pretty even” in the midfield, and Victoria East had good size and a physical style. He was excited to see the Cowboys, and particularly his strong senior group, come up big to earn a trip to the third round.
“It was a good game. It was a very, very even match in the first half. The kids came out and played a heck of a second half,” Espitia said. “Victoria East came out very organized and put a lot of people in the midfield, so it was a battle there. Fortunately for us we scored an early goal, which was a blessing because it gave us a little patience to manage and work with the game.”
Freshman Ricardo Leal scored the opening goal on a header off a corner kick. Espitia said after the early goal the Cowboys started to struggle with the midfield battle, but they maintained a 1-0 lead at halftime.
The Titans got too physical during the second half, and Porter took advantage of it. Brandon Montes scored on a penalty kick that Espitia said gave the team a breather and allowed the Cowboys to control the tempo of the game from that point on.
Two Victoria East players were ejected toward the end of the second half as they got carried away trying to slow down Julian Gallegos. That led to the third goal, scored by Oswaldo Andrade on a counterattack.
Gallegos, Jose Machuca, Brandon Montes and goalkeeper Isaac Acevedo were among the standouts for the Cowboys in the area-round game.
“They had good size, so our goalkeeper was very, very crucial on those set plays with the ball in the air,” Espitia said. “Jose Machuca did a heck of a job on defense, an outstanding job on defense on top. And Julian Gallegos, the effort that he put throughout the match, he was able to maintain the ball up there and keep possession. Brandon Montes, he’s the one that controls the tempo of the game offensively and defensively.”