CORPUS CHRISTI — The McAllen High girls soccer team played somewhat of a mirror image of themselves against Cedar Park in the Region IV-5A semifinals Tuesday at Corpus Christi Calallen Stadium.

Unfortunately for McHi, the opposition played the aggressor, the controller and, ultimately, the conqueror — all the things the Bullldogs were this entire season — during a dominant 4-0 victory to reach the regional finals.

“That is a very, very good team we played. It was like playing ourselves with the same style they play,” McHi head coach Pat Arney said. “I’m glad we had the opportunity to play this season and am proud of the girls.

“They were the better team tonight. Now we will go back to the drawing board and prepare for next season.”

Sabrina Blount scored twice for the Timberwolves, while Breland Mungia and Lisa Borge also scored, the final two goals coming during the final five minutes to seal the game.

The win improves Cedar Park to 20-6-2, while the Bulldogs end their season at 21-1.

Cedar Park controlled possession for a majority of the game, a common theme usually mastered by McHi all season. They also disrupted the Bulldogs from getting many runs on goal to finding a rhythm, more often than not beating them to free balls and intercepting several of the through passes during breakaway attempts.

“They were the more physical team and they are like us as far as wanting to control possession,” Arney said. “We had some opportunities but couldn’t finish it a coupe times.”

McHi worked themselves into two opportunities with attacks during the first 10 minutes but, with gusting winds behind them, their long angling passes to speedy wing Mallory Henderson were too far ahead to catch up to.

Mungia set up the first goal with a free kick that bounced around inside the box before Blount put it away.

McHi goalkeeper Grace Kelly made a full outstretched diving save with 2:33 left during the first half that kept the game tired at the break. She made a few more unreliable saves throughout the match.

The Bulldogs came out more physical during the first few minutes of the second half and looked to have more opportunities to score throughout the period but couldn’t find the back of the net. Mungia found herself in front of the box and fired off a shot that gave Cedar Park a 2-0 advantage with 37:06 remaining.

The Bulldogs pushed more to get something going offensively but the Timberwolves were a bit faster, a bit stronger and finished their attacks.

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Sure, it’s fun to watch the McAllen High School girls soccer team at their best. The poetry-in-motion movement, the sharpshooter accurate passes and the made-for-ESPN highlight film with breakaway goals and other excitement en route to a 21-0 record.

Fans talk about how impressive their teamwork is, players watching from opposing benches have been caught mesmerized as they move the ball in complete rhythm.

But the Bulldogs’ defense is as critical a part to the team’s season-long success leading to today’s 6:30 p.m. matchup against Cedar Park at Corpus Christi Calallen High School in the Class 5A Region IV semifinals.

Charlotte Beck, Cassidy Leftwich and Mia Reyna provide McHi with a three-player defensive wall, with help from holding midfielder Melanie Saldana that has limited opponents to few attempts at an easy shot, or a shot at all in most cases on goalkeeper Grace Kelly.

While they have all shown their ball skills and their ability to kickstart an offense — and in some case go all the way downfield and find the back of the opposing net — they also don’t mind gritting, grinding and gnashing their teeth to protect their side of the field. It’s like watching a graceful ballerina successfully playing smash-mouth rugby.

The possession style team has scored 120 goals in 21 games, allowing just 10 in those same 21 games with 14 shutouts. One defender, Mia Reyna, is a ball magician who will move up the field and score when she sees the right opportunity.

“Cedar Park has a lot of speed so that definitely will be a good challenge and I think we have as much,” said Reyna, who took a ball from her defensive position, dribble it upfield, beat a defender and (again, Reyna is a defender) got into the box and tapped in a goal in the 7-1 win against Victoria West. “We are looking for space and love to find those gaps. We are very possessive, we start from the back and build up and send through balls to our forwards.”

Another defender, Charlotte Beck, will blaze to the ball, take it and is lightning-quick transitioning with a pass to ignite a counterattack. The cross-country standout is fast and seemingly never tires.

“As a defensive unit our job isn’t to get all the credit,” Beck said. “Our job is to take care of not getting any goals scored on us and I think we’ve done that this season. This year, as a defensive unit, I think we’ve done a good job and it has been fun.”

“She’s a star back there,” McAllen High head coach Pat Arney said. “They are all wicked fast; there are no really no weaknesses with them. They’ve passed the test of being physical, of being fast, they are smart and have a good soccer IQ and can move up the field.”

Then Leftwich, the Bulldogs’ version of a sweeper, will not stand down for any oncoming forward, sacrificing life and limb to protect Kelly and the goal. Her teammates are quick to say how glad they are she’s on their team and not the opposition.

“We’re all pretty physical, but Cassidy is a beast,” Reyna said. “I’d be scare if she came at me. We’re on the same team right now so that’s good.”

“She’s left a lot of people on the floor,” Beck said. “She’s a great defender and it’s nice knowing she’s part of our team.”

Arney said the defense is what starts their offensive attack.

“They are patient. If something doesn’t work they stop and they know they can go back to Grace,” Arney said. “They continue to move around and they can get the others girl tired. The more the others are chasing, the better that is for us.

“Now the goal is to just keep doing what we’ve been doing and just be prepared and aware and play our game.”

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Possession is the name of the game for the McAllen High girls soccer team.

Of course, while scoring and defending are critical factors toward every outcome, how well those areas perform come game time are often based on how well the Bulldogs’ midfielders play.

With a 21-0 record and a trip to the Class 5A Region IV quarterfinals looming at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against Cedar Park at Corpus Christi Calallen, it’s pretty clear what type of a job they’ve done thus far.

With pinpoint passing, non-stop movement, aggressive attacking and defending, the trio of seniors Melanie Saldana and Chloe Fallek, and sophomore Haley Nixon have the Bulldogs two wins away from a second trip to the state tournament, the first one coming during the 2018 season.

“What we want them to do is transition from the defense to the offense, doing it in a way that can open up the opposing team’s defenses,” head coach Pat Arney said. “With quickness and quick decisions and precision passing they are able to do that so well. It’s not a set pattern by any means. They are creative, they are moving and playing so well together.”

That was evident during their third-round 5-0 victory over Corpus Christi Veterans. The visiting Eagles attempted to slow down the midfielders by pressing man-to-man. However, the quick touch passing and continuous movement led to accurate deliveries to teammates in open space until there was a scoring opportunity, and the Bulldogs had plenty of those.

“They use their forwards and wings in doing a great job to open the defense and create chances for us to score,” Arney said.

Saldana is what’s known as a holding midfielder in the Bulldogs’ scheme. She protects the defense from longer passes from the opponent’s midfielders to their forwards.

“She is much more defensive-minded,” Arney said. “She has a great leg but she’s focused on passing. She’ll make great runs and then dish the ball off, like a point guard in basketball.”

Ironically, Saldana wasn’t very interested in playing defense when she was put in that position as a sophomore. Now, she welcomes that role and the challenges that come with it. She has excelled there, shutting down the top scorers in her district, around the Valley and throughout the playoffs.

“We work really well together,” Saldana said, referring to her fellow midfielders. “We are always in a triangle and we cover each other. If I go up, someone comes back. We are always working and covering each other.”

The midfielder trio has 36 assists between them and are responsible for more than that as they get the ball up to their wings and forwards, who oftentimes have one more pass to dish en route to a goal.

Fallek is the most offensive-minded, with more than 20 goals to her name.

“Chloe has a great leg and can shoot from distance,” Arney said. “She’s like a 3-point shooter in basketball, otherwise, and (the) defense will just suck in. She’s accurate and has made some timely goals. She did that against Edcouch-Elsa (during a 2-0 bi-district win), just picked out a corner and put it up there, and she’s been doing that.”

Nixon is the young one of the middles, but she has worked herself right in there with the seniors as a seamless member of that group.

“She is the quiet one. She’s more pass-oriented while Mel is defense and Chloe is offense,” Arney said. “Her job links them all together and she’s great at getting the ball out to our wings. She does her job well.”

The three not only spark the offense, but also work at helping the defense, pressing opposing forwards to stop any long-ball counter attacks. If they someone get by the middle three, a defensive wall awaits the opponent and the mids are ready to start their own counter attack.

“We’ve been working a lot on our own counters,” Saldana said. “From Grace (Kelly, goalkeeper) to one of the defensive backs then us, we’re always looking forward for the open players, now not dribbling as much and making one or two passes out to our fast forwards.

“I’m not ready for this season to end. We’re giving it our all every single game,” Saldana said. “I’m excited.”

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McALLEN — After McAllen High’s Savannah Ruiz scored off a Bailey Huston pass 30 seconds into their Friday night match for a 1-0 lead, head coach Pat Arney hollered out, “We needed that.”

Actually, it was all they — but not all they got — as the Bulldogs advanced to the UIL Class 5A Regional Semifinals, also known as the “Sweet 16,” with a 5-0 win over the Corpus Christi Veterans Eagles at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.

McHi improved to 21-0 on the season, while Corpus Christi fell to 15-3-2. McHi will play Cedar Park in the regional semifinals Tuesday with more details to be announced later. Cedar Park (19-6-2) advanced to the fourth round with a 2-0 win Monday over Boerne-Champion.

“We’re getting to where we want to be,” Arney said.

Huston and Mallory Henderson each scored twice, and each had two assists as the Bulldogs put the ball in the net in waves. They scored their first two goals during the first 14 minutes, Henderson scoring the second one on a penalty kick after being dragged down in the box.

Similarly, McHi scored twice during the first three minutes of the second half, the first one coming 29 seconds into the period as Henderson found Huston streaking up the middle and fed her a through pass, leaving her one-on-one with Veterans goalkeeper.

During next two minutes the Bulldogs had two more streaking attempts, one stopped on an offsides call and another where the shot on an empty goal went just wide.

Then, with 37:01 remaining in the game it was Huston who found the speedster Henderson, whose shot was true and to the bottom left corner of the net. Suddenly, the score doubled from halftime to 4-0 during the first three minutes of the second half.

“We talked about getting the forwards the ball more in the second half and they did that,” Arney said. “The girls continue to play well and I think when you’re up at the half it just makes it easier.

“Corpus was man marking us a lot and we were moving and crossing a lot and we had more speed than them. When you do that and get the passes out front, it’s a foot race.”

Huston and Henderson kept firing away during second and at the midway point, Huston took a beautiful shot on goal from about 30 yard out, aiming for the strong side top shelf, but the shot just went over the goal.

On the way back toward the sidelines, Arney gave Huston some advice, telling her to dribble in deeper for a better angle.

Less then a minute later, she worked her way into the middle of the box and fired a shot before taking two hits and giving McHi a 5-0 advantage.

“Bailey had come on strong when we needed her,” Arney said. “She’s been clutch. They went out of their way to stop those two (Mallory and Bailey) and couldn’t do it. They are playing awesome.”

It wasn’t just the offense that was clicking, however. The Bulldogs were dominant all over the field, controlling possession for nearly 85% of the match. Mia Reyna seemingly danced with the ball, avoiding defenders like a matador does with charging bulls, the midfielders transitioned quickly and attacked often and the defense allowed the Eagles little space, shutting down nearly every counter attack and long pass attempts. The couple of times they got into position for a shot, ‘keeper Grace Kelly was there.

“Our center back, Cassidy Leftwich was just poised,” Arney said. “If anything got by our two fullbacks, she was there. Not only was our defense on their forwards and denying them, but they would intercept the ball and make a great pass to the midfielders.

“We had a lot of movement and great touches on the ball tonight.”

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Mallory Henderson scored twice for McAllen High School against Victoria West on Tuesday. Five other Bulldogs also scored during the area-round matchup.

Donna North’s Gabby Aviles and Edinburg Vela’s Taylor Campbell are two of the Valley’s all-time leading goal scorers. However, it was North’s Nancy Espino and Vela’s Odessa Leal who knocked in arguably the biggest goals during their area-round games Tuesday night.

As teams get deeper into the playoffs, the whole concept of “we” becomes more important. For these three teams, having a superstar is good, but having a complete arsenal is great and is a major reason they are preparing for their regional-quarterfinal matchups tonight.

“Everybody on the field can take the shot and they will step up and make the play when needed,” McHi midfielder Chloe Fallek said. “Usually it’s our forwards, our wings who score, but even midfielders are looking for opportunities.

The Bulldogs play Corpus Christi Veterans at McAllen Memorial Veterans Stadium at 6 p.m. today. Veterans is coming off a 2-1 win (4-2 in penalty kicks after regulation and two overtime periods) over McAllen Memorial in the area round Tuesday.

Donna North head coach Tony Garcia has his team in the third round of the Class 6A playoffs for the third time in his eight years at the helm. He also has one of the Valley’s all-time leading scorers in senior Gabby Aviles.

But it was Espino, another senior who scored the game-tying goal against San Antonio Connor. Espino scored again during the penalty kick round, in which the Chiefs won to advance. Senior goalkeeper Michelle Garcia made a save and scored a goal during the PK round.

“Having multiple weapons and having other players who are going to come up big in the big games is always going to be key,” Garcia said. “It gives Gabby (Aviles) more comfort and it can put her at ease to play her game when she knows that there are others she can trust to come up big in the big games.”

Donna North travels to District 32-6A rival Los Fresnos to play the Falcons for the third time this season. The Chiefs lost the first matchup 2-1, before winning the second one 4-3. The Chiefs are on a seven-game winning streak.

“There’s a lot more on the line for this game,” said Garcia, whose team hasn’t advanced past the third round in program history. “We know what type of team we are and we are focused on us. We just have to do what Donna North has to do and does. We are extremely excited to hopefully write a new chapter.”

Vela’s Taylor Campbell, like Aviles, is one of three seniors who broke the record that stood at the beginning of the year by Sharyland High’s Katie Watson at 146. Campbell has 60 goals this year, a hugely impressive number, but Vela has 149 as a team, showing their offensive depth.

The SaberCats have six players who have scored, including Odessa Leal, who broke a 3-3 tie against San Anonio Taft as Vela advanced with a 4-3 win. Taylor scored twice and Natalia Cortez also found the back of the net.

“If you mark Taylor, someone else will step up and score. That’s something we’ve been working on all season,” Vela head coach Americo Cortez said late in the regular season. “We’ve moved players around from defense to offense and have a lot of girls who can score and who can play on defense. They can play anywhere.”

Vela, with a 19-0-1 record, will travel to the Laredo United Student Activity Center for a 5 p.m. matchup with Northside Brennan, which beat Harlingen High 4-0 during the area round.

McHi lost an all-star cast of players to graduation last year, three moving on to Division I schools. It’s the only girls team from the Valley to make it to the state tournament. McHi’s ability to move the ball up the field with pinpoint accuracy, and team speed, has set them apart this season.

“It’s really exciting to do the things we can do. We can have the ball in the back and after two passes score a goal,” said Fallek, who is more of a playmaker in the middle than a scorer, but still has 20 goals on the season. “We still have a strong foundation and soccer IQ and the ability to get the ball where it needs.

“It’s amazing to be able to rely on every single player on the field. That’s really an advantage and it makes us dangerous all over the field.

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Corpus Christi Veterans outscored McAllen Memorial 4-2 in penalty kicks en route to a 2-1 win after two sessions of overtime at McAllen Memorial to advance to the next round of the girls UIL Class 5A playoffs.

The Mustangs, the fourth seed from District 31-5A, found the back of the net first when Mia Honrubia scored midway through the first half. Corpus Christi’s Karina Nunez tied the scored later during the first half and the game remained tied at 1 throughout regulation and extra time.

“I’m thankful to get to have a season, thankful we were able to go to the playoffs and thankful we made it as far as we did,” McAllen Memorial coach Matthew Kaiser said. “COVID made everything about this year unknown, so I am thankful for all the opportunities the girls were given and their efforts to do their best with some challenging circumstances this year.”

Corpus Christi’s Victoria Torres had the winning kick during penalties.

Veterans improved to 15-2-2 on the year, while Memorial finished its season at 11-9. Veterans will play McAllen High in the regional quarterfinals, with details to be determined later.

McALLEN HIGH 7, VICTORIA WEST 1: At Corpus Christi, McHi jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Victoria West got on the board with a long goal and the Bulldogs claimed their 20th straight victory.

The Bulldogs, ranked as high as No. 4 in the state according to the Texas Girls Coaches Association, was playing without starter Brianna Claudio, who injured her ACL. The game started about 45 minutes late, but it didn’t take too much time before McHi scored twice.

Bailey Huston, Chloe Fallek, Haley Nixon and Mallory Henderson all scored during the first half for McHi.

Mia Reyna scored to begin the second half, followed by Henderson’s second goal to blow the game open, and one from Emma Wilkins to close the scoring.

McAllen High will play Corpus Christi Veterans, which defeated McAllen Memorial on Tuesday, in the regional quarterfinals with details to come later.

GREGORY-PORTLAND 3, McALLEN ROWE 0: At Portland, McAllen Rowe ended its season at 20-5-1, after being shut out by the Wildcats, who won their 19th straight game and improved to 26-2 heading into the third round.

“This season was very rewarding for all of us,” Rowe head coach John Martinez said. “By far, one of the most difficult seasons to navigate through. Playing in such a tough district, injuries, maintaining eligibility, all while the threat of COVID over our heads. I couldn’t be more proud of them and what they accomplished this year.

“We’re going to process this season the next few days and get back out on the field come Monday.”

Gregory-Portland, which has outscored its opponents 10-0 in the first two rounds, will play Corpus Christi Flour Bluff, which beat Sharyland High 1-0 on Monday, in the regional quarterfinals.

EDINBURG VELA 4, SAN ANTONIO TAFT 3: At Alice, Odessa Leal broke a 3-3 tie with about 16 minutes remaining to send the SaberCats to the regional quarterfinals. They will play Northside Brennan, which beat Harlingen High, with details to come later.

Taylor Campbell scored two goals and Natalia Cortez also scored for Edinburg Vela.

The SaberCats improved to 18-0-1 while Taft fell to 16-5-1.

Campbell now has 177 career goals. She scored the first goal to make it 1-0 and then tied it at 3 during the second half with her other goal.

“It was definitely a battle tonight, but we were prepared for it,” Campbell said. “This was, I think, our toughest game we have played all season and we held up extremely well.

“We know the teams are going to get harder from here on out, but mentally and physically we are ready for it.”

DONNA NORTH 2, SAN ANTONIO O’CONNOR 1 (in PKs): At Corpus Christi, Donna North set up a third match with District 32-6A foe Los Fresnos in the regional quarterfinals after dispatching of San Antonio O’Connor.

The Chiefs split two games during the district season, losing 2-1 the first time before bouncing back to win the second 4-3.

Nancy Espino scored for Donna North and the Chiefs then sealed the match in penalty kicks.

Information on their next game will be decided at a later time.

Kaylee Cruz and Joslyn Lopez fired a 72 and 73, respectively, and helped put the Sharyland Pioneer golf team on the verge of the school’s first girls district title in school history.

The Diamondbacks scored a 319 as a team, giving them a 21-stroke lead over rival Sharyland High (340) going into today’s final round of the District 31-5A golf championship at Tierra Del Sol Golf Course in Pharr.

Meanwhile, all five players on the McAllen Memorial “A” team shot a sub-80 round as the Mustangs grabbed an 18-stroke advantage over McAllen High heading into today’s round.

Cruz, a senior transfer from San Antonio Reagan, and Lopez, a sophomore, both started on No. 10 and started fast. Cruz opened the round with four straight birdies, while Lopez registered an Eagle on 10 in the group right behind Cruz and her group.

“You could say we are finishing where we left off last year, some unfinished business,” Pioneer head coach Susan Lopez said. “We haven’t had a district title for the girls. We could have had one last year but didn’t because of COVID.”

Lopez has coached the Pioneer girls and boys teams since the school opened seven years ago. Prior to that she coached at Sharyland High for 15 years, building the Rattlers into a perennial power.

Carolina Tirado shot one of the other two sub-80 rounds of the tournament with a 79 to help Sharyland High finish in second on the day.

McAllen High’s Jordan Gabrielson also fired a 79, from the No. 3 player spot, to pace the Bulldogs to a 366 total and in third place. McAllen Memorial’s Sofia Alaniz Choy scored an 87 to lead the Mustangs to fourth place after the first day with a 376.

Memorial flexed its muscles Monday. Dylan Villareal’s 2-under 70 led all boys, while Estaban Gonzalez followed with a 71. Max Martinez, who won one-round pre-district event Saturday, came in at 73 while teammates Daniel Garza Garza and Ryan Avila registered a 77 and 79, respectively. Maverick Erickson, the No. 1 Memorial “B” team golfer, also got into the sub-80 action with a 75.

“We’ve been grinding it out all year and the kids have come together as a team both on and off the course,” said Memorial head coach Celso Gonzales, in his 32nd season at the helm of the program. “They looked good today. Tomorrow is day two and we believe in the power of the Mighty Mustang.”

Justin Ochoa came in at an even par-72 for the second-place Bulldogs after one round. For McHi at No. 5, Carson Wegener shot a 77.

Players will tee off with an 8 a.m. shotgun start today for the final round.

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Weslaco High’s Sergio Lerma set a state record in the squat and captured the state championship, one of four boys to do so Saturday, at the Texas High School Powerlifting Association Division I state meet at the Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene.

Lerma, a sophomore, competed in the 181-pound weight class. Also winning state titles were McAllen High’s Hugo Rodriguez at 148, PSJA’s Javier Pichardo at 165 and La Joya Palmview’s Alberto Vargas at 220.

PSJA High, Weslaco High and McAllen High finished fifth, sixth and seventh as a team, respectively. Kyle Lehman won the team event in a highly competitive event with about 100 schools represented following their respective regionals.

Lerma broke his own record in the squat, which he set two weeks ago at regionals with a lift of 675 pounds. He shattered that mark Saturday with a 700-pound squat. Lerma said following his regional squat that he had never attempted the 675-pound lift.

He won the regional title in dominating fashion, winning is weight class by 145 pounds. He did the same Saturday. His combined weight between the squat (700), bench press (290) and deadlift (585) gave him a total of 1,575 pounds, 105 pounds ahead of his nearest competitor at 1,470.

McHi’s Rodriguez combined to lift 1,330 pounds (565 squat, 305 bench, 460 deadlift). His 565 pound squat was the heaviest lift among competitors in that weight class.

The Bears’ Pichardo had the top squat (655) and top deadlift (560) in the 165 weight class. He added 355 in the bench for a 1,570 total. He and Jordan McKenzie of Midlothian were the only two to surpass a total lift of 1,500 pounds in that weight class.

Palmview’s Vargas came off his state record 465-pound bench at the regional meet to have a great all-around day in each lift category. He pushed the best mark in the weight class at the bench with 450 pounds, was second in the squat at 655 pounds, fifth in the deadlift at 610 for a total of 1,715 pounds, 15 pounds more than he lifted to win the regional title.

There were 172 lifters competing at the Division I event Saturday.

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Shaine Casas qualified second in preliminaries for the 200 back finals at the 2021 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday in Greensboro, North Carolina.

That’s why they are preliminaries.

Casas , a former McAllen High standout, went on to deliver a magnificent race in the finals, winning his third NCAA Championship for Texas A&M during the nearly week-long event.

Casas’ time of 1 minute, 36.75 seconds was not only a personal best, but it set the Greensboro Aquatic Center pool record of 1:37.19, set earlier in the day by preliminaries time leader, freshman phenom Destin Lasco out of the University of California. Lasco’s time of 1:35.99 placed him second in the 200 back, which ended being a two-man race between him and Casas. Third place was nearly 2.5 seconds slower.

Swimming neck and neck after 150 yards, Casas’ showed his power on the final lap, completing that segment in 22.48 seconds. He won the race by 0.24 seconds. He won the final 50 yards by 0.26 seconds, showing how close the two were after 150 yards.

Casas’ time was also .04 seconds off the NCAA, Meet, American and U.S. Open record of 1:35.73 set by then-future Olympian, and American great Ryan Murphy, also of Cal, and set in 2016. It was the second fastest time in the history of the 200 back.

Casas won the 200 IM on Wednesday in 1:39.53. It was the first NCAA Championship title for Casas and the first men’s individual title in Texas A&M swimming history.

He came back Thursday and captured his second NCAA title of the week, winning the 100 back in 44.20.

“We are thrilled with the win,” A&M head coach Jay Holmes said after Casas won his second title. “For him to get his second win here at the national championship meet is really awesome for him and for this program. He wasn’t too happy with the time, he has been better than that before, but for him to turn it around after swimming three races last night and pick up the win for us was really exciting.”

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Abby Rocha knocked in a header off a corner kick from Camila Gil during the 97th minute, as McAllen Rowe claimed a 2-1 victory over Brownsville Lopez in the UIL Class 5A bi-district playoff matchup.

Belinda Garcia scored for Lopez during the 19th minute on a header and Lopez kept the lead until Gil, a freshman, scored from 19 yards out on a free kick during the 66th minute to tie it.

It was Rowe head coach John Martinez’s 150th career win, and the fourth straight bi-district victory for the Warriors. Last year’s season ended before the playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We had a corner kick and Camila placed it perfectly in the box and Abby came in with the game-winning header,” Martinez said. “The biggest goal of our season, for sure.”

Rowe was the third seed in district 31-5A. Lopez finished second in 32-6A.

There were three goals called off during the game, two for Rowe on offsides calls and one for Lopez on a foul called in the box.

“There’s been a few games where we’ve been down 1-0 at half, but we’ve stayed calm and collected and put the ball in the net,” Martinez said. “Sometimes we seem to take the first punch and then decide to start throwing punches. I believe we were in the toughest district in South Texas, not to take away from others but every night you’re going to have to battle.”

Rowe improved to 20-4-1 and will play at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Gregory-Portland at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the area round.

EDINBURG VELA 4, HARLINGEN SOUTH 1: At Harlingen, senior Taylor Campbell scored twice and the SaberCats earned their first win during the scoring phenom’s illustrious four-year career. Ky Richards and Rodriguez also scored for the SaberCats.

Vela was the top seed out of District 31-6A while South was the fourth seed in District 32-6A.

The win improves Edinburg Vela to 18-0-1 and winners of 14 straight. It was also the closest final score during Vela’s winning streak.

Campbell gave Vela a 1-0 lead during the first half. She drove into and past the defenders, finding herself one-on-one and “stuck my left foot in for the shot and it went into the left side of the goal,” she said.

“It’s great finally breaking our school’s history,” Taylor said. “We’ve been unlucky losing in the first round my freshman and sophomore year and I think this win just gave us the confidence to go into the next round with the right mindset.”

Vela will play the winner of Del Rio and Taft in the area round with details to be provided later.

McALLEN HIGH 2, EDCOUCH-ELSA 0: At Elsa, the undefeated McHi Bulldogs, the top seed in District 31-5A, scored twice in the second half to improve to 19-0 on the season. It also completed a bi-district sweep of District 32-5A in the process.

Chloe Fallek and Bailey Huston each scored for McHi.

“E-E played great, very defensive,” McHi head coach Pat Arney said. “Made scoring very difficult. We stayed calm, kept up the pressure and it paid off. It was a great shot by Chloe Fallek for our first goal.”

The Bulldogs will play Victoria West in the area round. West defeated Laredo Martin 1-0 in their bi-district matchup. Details of the match will be decided later.