PHARR — The last time the Valley View Tigers and the Sharyland High Rattlers met on the field, the Tigers needed penalty kicks to come out victorious.
This time, the Tigers scored three times during the first half on their way to a dominating 4-1 win in their District 31-5A regular season finale Friday night at Valley View High School.
Despite already having the district title locked up, the Tigers were determined to finish the season with a perfect district record.
Leading the charge for the Tigers was junior captain Pablo Torre. With 16:13 left in the first half and his team up 2-0, Torre took a pass and made a move on a Rattlers defender before flying past another pair of defenders and finding the back of the net to give his team a commanding 3-0.
Despite being the third Tigers player to score, Torre made his presence felt all night long. Nine minutes into the match, Torre used his chest to intercept a free kick attempt by the Rattlers.
After controlling the ball, Torre took the ball 60 yards down field, outmaneuvering multiple Rattlers defenders along the way, before winding up and firing a shot that ricocheted off the goalkeeper’s hands.
With the defense focused on Torre, Tigers forward Peter Yanez found the ball off the rebound with an empty net in front of him and hammered in his first goal of the night to give Valley View a 1-0 lead.
With his goal, Torre finished district play averaging 2.6 goals per game, scoring 37 goals in 14 games, while leading his team to a District 31-5A title.
“He (Torre) came into this year a totally different horse,” Tigers head coach Gerardo Salazar said. “His parents told us he had been working hard all summer. He looks like a senior but he’s only a junior. We’re lucky that we have him. But also, as a captain, he has been very vocal in practices and stuff like that. We’re lucky to have him. He’s our best player by far.”
Coming out of the half with a 3-1 lead with goals by Yanez, Torre and midfielder Diego Ontiveros, the Tigers slowed the ball down in the second half looking to hold their lead.
Yanez scored his second goal of the night with 3:20 left in the match to help the Tigers finish the season with a 4-1 win with their focus now shifting to the playoffs.
“Playoffs are playoffs,” Salazar said. “Coach Magallan had teams in the past who were super good and lost in the first round. Soccer is soccer. You have to score to win. Our goal is to go to state and that should be our goal. We’re just going to take it one game at a time. We don’t know who we are going to play, but we are going to concentrate on us.”
The Tigers finish the season as the undisputed District 31-5A champions, beating every team in the district twice along the way. Meanwhile, the Rattlers finish the season as the runner-up.
With both teams locked in for the playoffs, they now sit back and wait for their opponent as well as the time and date of their match.