Following the recent death of his grandfather, Hidalgo Pirates sophomore forward Rey Cantu took the field with extra motivation during Thursday night’s Region IV-4A quarterfinals matchup.
Despite his recent loss, Cantu decided to join his teammates on the pitch, with the goal of making his grandpa proud.
The sophomore striker excelled in his goal, scoring twice to carry the Pirates to a 4-2 victory over the Brownsville IDEA Riverview Rockets at H-E-B Park.
“Sadly, I lost someone close to me recently,” Cantu said. “That weighed heavy on my heart. I felt he was with me at every moment, though. That’s why I dedicate these two goals to him. That’s why I pointed to the sky after each of them.”
Cantu’s biggest score of the night came 22 minutes into the second half. With the game deadlocked at 1, the Pirates crossed the ball into the penalty area.
Locked in on the ball, Cantu slid to where it was landing, tapping the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net with his left foot to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead.
Following Cantu’s goal, the rout was on with senior defender Angel Lopez and junior midfielder Ernseto Moreno netting goals during the 71st and 75th minutes of the match to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead.
“We were losing a lot of easy balls in the middle and making a lot of mistakes in the middle of the field,” Pirates coach Zeke Morales said. “So, we made a couple of adjustments and corrections. Luckily, we have a couple of forwards out there who are pretty fast and pretty talented. With them, we were able to execute in the end and were able to make that run.”
Following a back-and-forth start to the match, the Pirates broke the tie with nine minutes left during the first half.
After taking a pass near midfield, Pirates junior midfielder Edgar Guerra got crafty with his footwork, losing multiple Rockets defenders along the way.
Near the penalty area, Guerra tapped the ball back to a wide-open Rey Cantu. The sophomore forward did the rest, firing a powerful shot past and Rockets’ goalkeeper to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
The advantage was short-lived though, as Rockets sophomore forward Haziel Mejia showed off his moves, losing the goalkeeper and finding an empty net for his seventh goal of the postseason, sending the game into the break at 1-1.
After a three-goal scoring explosion by the Pirates, the Rockets cut into the deficit following a goal by sophomore defender Antonio Soto with six minutes left in regulation.
With that, the Rockets historic season comes to an end, earning their first-ever district title and playoff appearance along the way, all without a single senior on their roster.
“It all comes down to the bond that they created,” Rockets head coach Rodolfo Rodriguez said. “It all started with the practice. It’s been a tough year because of COVID, but we made it happen. They learned how to deal with the challenges of having a smaller team. I think that’s what made them the strongest, knowing they’d be going up against bigger teams. And mentally, they did it.”
Meanwhile, the Pirates march forward into familiar territory, returning to the Region IV-4A semifinals after losing in the area round during the 2019 season.
The Pirates take on the Taylor Ducks in Round 4 of the postseason at a time, date and location yet to be determined.