After scoring their second goal of the night, the McAllen High coaches could be heard from the sidelines yelling, “All gas, no brakes.”
The message was heard loud and clear by the Bulldogs as they rolled to a dominating 3-1 victory over the McAllen Rowe Warriors on the Friday’s opening night of District 31-5A play at Rowe High School.
“It’s a very important win because it’s a hometown rival,” Bulldogs head coach Fernando Segovia said. “It’s been a while since we started with a win district-wise. But we’ve been playing well. We’ve played some good teams. We were kind of confident coming in, but when you play a crosstown rival everything evens out.”
After jumping out to a 1-0 lead following a goal by junior Sergio Dávila, the Bulldogs remained in attack mode to start the second half. Less than three minutes into the second period, the Bulldogs offense nearly got on the board again, when a 30-yard free kick bounced off the cross bar.
Despite the near miss, the Bulldogs kept their foot on the gas, looking to increase their lead. With 30:54 left in the match, sophomore Vicente Àlvarez snuck a shot between the goalkeeper’s legs to give his team a 2-0 lead.
With their goals, Dávila and Àlvarez increased their total to 12 and 8 on the season, respectively, helping the Bulldogs outscore their opponents 44-15 on the way to an 8-3 overall record.
Late during the game, the Warriors looked primed for a comeback following a 36-yard strike from Diego Gil to cut the lead to 2-1 with 6:49 left in regulation. Following a failed attack by McAllen Rowe, the Bulldogs went on the counter looking to ice the game.
Bulldogs freshman Gael Rodríguez took a long pass and blew past a pair of Warriors defenders and put the exclamation point on the game, delivering a 30-yard strike to seal the victory.
Segovia, whose team has three freshmen in the starting lineup, believes the team’s non-district schedule has proved crucial to the early-season success.
“When we first started, the fact that we really didn’t have practice, we really didn’t have conditioning, we didn’t really have an offseason, so it was kind of shaky,” Segovia said. “Then, all of a sudden we play that first game and we’re like, ‘Oh man, we look good.’ Then, the (same happened in the) second game. And we just kept it going. These guys are pushing themselves and I’m proud of them.”
The Bulldogs (8-3, 1-0) will host Sharyland Pioneer at 6 p.m. Monday, while the Warriors (2-7, 0-1) will travel play Valley View, also at 6 p.m. Monday.