By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

There were strong performances and even some pleasant surprises for St. Joseph Academy at the past weekend’s TAPPS track and field state meet in Waco.

The meet was held Friday and Saturday at Baylor University’s Hart Stadium.

Highlighting the SJA boys’ third-place TAPPS Class 6A team finish were state championship performances by Pablo Zolezzi in the discus and Marte Rodriguez in the 300-meter hurdles along with record-breaking times by the Bloodhounds’ 400- and 800-meter relays consisting of Mario Garcia, Miguel Guerra, Keaton Cackley and Kai Money.

“It was a good day for St. Joseph,” SJA coach Meme Garza said. “The competition was tough and we had a strong showing considering we didn’t really have a lot of athletes there.”

SJA qualified 12 athletes for state — nine boys and three girls.

Garza, the longtime SJA coach, said it appears both relays, besides setting school records, logged times that are the fastest ever run in those events by Brownsville relay athletes.

Both relays took third places as the 800 relay finished in 1 minute, 29.26 seconds and the 400 relay was timed in 42.61 seconds.

“It was one of the best (showings for Brownsville in those two events), that’s for sure,” Garza said.

Also highlighting the weekend for the Bloodhounds were the first-place finishes of Zolezzi in the discus on Friday and Rodriguez in the 300 hurdles on Saturday.

“It feels great winning the state championship for discus considering how much effort I put into practice,” said Zolezzi, who took first in his event with a throw of 147 feet, 4 inches to edge second-place teammate Ricardo Miner’s 142-8 effort. “I knew it would be hard, but I was determined to do my best.”

Added SJA assistant coach Teddy Lopez, “We got a state champion — not in the event we expected. But Pablo Zolezzi really stepped up. He worked hard over the Easter Break and he deserved it.”

Meanwhile, Rodriguez impressed his teammates and coaches by making a late surge to the finish line and winning the 300 hurdles in 40.73 seconds. He also took fourth in the 110 hurdles in 15.86.

“Marte was the hero of the day with his incredible showing and win at the end,” Garza said. “He ran with his heart. It was a beautiful race to watch and it inspired the whole team.”

Gaby Garza, who holds Valley-best times in her events, finished second in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles in 14.62 and 44.41, respectively.

Also in the girls competition for SJA, Leslie de la Llata was third in the discus with a 97-5 and Camryn Gloor was fifth in the pole vault with a 9-6 clearance.

The Bloodhounds’ Michael Lopez was sixth in the pole vault with an 11-0 clearance while Garcia and Guerra finished fourth and sixth in the 200 dash in 22.50 and 23.08, respectively.

Also, Miner was third in the shot put with a 49-6 1/4 toss.

Concordia Lutheran of Tomball won the 6A boys division with 119 points and Dallas Bishop Dunne was second with 97. SJA finished third with 76.

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

HIDALGO — As far as all-star soccer competition goes, the West is the best.

The West All-Stars validated that notion, at least this year, by winning all four games of Saturday’s 10th annual Rio Grande Valley Soccer Coaches Organization East-West Senior Showcase at Valley View.

After the Class 6A boys and girls matches ended with the West teams triumphing by identical 4-1 scores, the West held on to also win the sub-6A girls contest 5-4 to put the last team for the West in a position to go for the Showcase sweep in the sub-6A boys game.

The matches became more closely contested throughout the day, and the sub-6A boys game was particularly hard-fought. The sub-6A West boys squad built a two-goal lead and held on to triumph 2-1, making it a sweep for the teams from the Upper Valley.

In that final match of the day, the West led 1-0 on a first-half goal by Sharyland High’s Mark Stephens before teammate Luis Pecina of Valley View made it 2-0 with 26 minutes remaining.

Brownsville Porter’s Jose Pardillo of the East tallied a goal to close the gap to 2-1 with just under 20 minutes to go, but the East team came no closer and Pecina’s goal stood up as the game-winner to sweep all matches for the West.

“We had a good opponent and we were under pressure the whole game, but my teammates created a chance to score for me and I had a good run at the goal,” said Pecina, who will play soccer next school year at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. “It became a very important goal for us. It was my last high school game and I’m glad I got to score.”

The third game of the day was the most unpredictable as the sub-6A West girls led early 3-0 only to see the East battle back to tie it 3-3 with 28 minutes left.

From there, Hidalgo’s Andrea Espinoza of the West scored back-to-back goals within a three-minute span to give the West a 5-3 advantage before Edcouch-Elsa’s Genesis Martinez put in a goal to narrow the score to 5-4 with seven and a half minutes remaining.

Espinoza finished with three goals in the match as teammates Gabriela Estrada of Hidalgo and Vanessa Guevara of Sharyland High each contributed a goal.

Besides Martinez, also scoring for the sub-6A East girls were Weslaco East’s Xitlaly Hernandez, E-E’s Leslie Alvarado and Weslaco High’s Teresa Zuniga.

Because some of the sub-6A East girls were taking the SAT exam Saturday, their team was short-handed to begin the match and the squad picked up some 6A players from Weslaco.

In the 6A girls match, McAllen Memorial’s Daisy Robles led the West with a pair of goals and teammates Etzamar Rios of Edinburg North and Krysta Armstrong of Edinburg Economedes each added one.

Weslaco East’s Hernandez scored the lone goal for the 6A East girls, becoming perhaps the first player in the history of the RGVSCO event to ever tally goals in two separate matches on the same day.

Leading the 6A West boys to their 4-1 victory by scoring a goal apiece were McAllen High’s Adrian Rodriguez, Edinburg North’s Balan Gutierrez, McAllen Rowe’s Jose Nunez and Edinburg Vela’s Carlos Aparicio. Weslaco East’s Daniel Lerma scored the goal for the 6A East boys.

ROY HESS | Staff Writer

There’s no shortage of standout high school soccer players in the Rio Grande Valley.

For that reason the annual Rio Grande Valley Coaches Organization All-Star East-West Showcase was expanded from two to four games four years ago.

Having so many talented seniors available for multiple all-star teams, it made sense to have four games instead of just two so more players could have additional playing time and have a better chance to display their skills for college recruiters. Under the current format, the RGVSCO event features East vs. West matchups in Class 6A and sub-6A games for boys and girls.

A full day of soccer is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. today at Valley View High School.

The 6A girls game kicks off the 10th annual RGVSCO event and will be followed by the 6A boys match at noon. The sub-6A girls match is scheduled for 2 p.m. with the sub-6A boys playing at 4 p.m.

Expanding the all-star showcase to four matches is an idea credited to Edinburg High girls coach Cerjio Elizarraraz, who is better known as “Coach Eli.”

“Oh yes, it’s definitely (a plus for the players),” said Elizarraraz, also the RGVSCO treasurer. “Players from the smaller schools get a very good chance to showcase their talents (too). We thank the high school coaches for helping us make up the teams and for helping us coach them as well.”

The Valley sent three boys teams to the UIL state tournament during the recently completed 2017 season. They were La Joya Juarez-Lincoln in 6A, Brownsville Lopez in 5A and Progreso in 4A. Players from those teams along with players from other squads that did well in the postseason are expected to play in Saturday’s games.

Coaches from across the Valley will be guiding the teams.

For the 6A squads, the coaches include Brownsville Rivera’s Salvador Garcia (East boys), McAllen Memorial’s Eduardo Calderon and McAllen Rowe’s Eloy Moran (West boys), Rivera’s Peter A. Rodriguez (East girls) and La Joya High’s Guadalupe Moreno (West girls).

The sub-5A coaches include Edcouch-Elsa’s Mauro Tijerina (East boys), Valley View’s Damian Magallan (West boys), E-E’s Juan Romero (East girls) and Hidalgo’s Frank Alday (West girls).

Stadium gates open at 9 a.m. T-shirts and concessions will be sold.

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

That satisfying feeling of winning the first game decisively on the road during a best-of-three baseball playoff series belonged to the Edinburg Vela Sabercats on Friday night.

After triumphing 6-1 in Brownsville over Hanna, the Sabercats now know they’ll feel even better if they can take Saturday’s Game 2 or Game 3 at Vela to close out the Class 6A bi-district series in their favor and move on to next week’s area playoffs against Laredo Alexander or McAllen Rowe.

Game 2 is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at Vela with Game 3, if needed, to start 30 minutes after Game 2.

Following Friday’s series-opening contest at Pye Memorial Field, District 31-6A third-place Vela improved to 17-6 while District 32-6A runner-up Hanna slipped to 15-9.

“We moved up from Class 5A to 6A this season, so a win like this is very big for our program,” said Vela coach Jaime Perez, whose ballclub advanced three rounds in the 5A playoffs a year ago. “We wanted to come out and make a statement that all of our success and victories at the 5A level wasn’t a fluke.

“That’s a very good team over there that is fundamentally sound,” added Perez, referring to Hanna. “We knew we had to play fundamentally sound in order to beat them.”

The Sabercats led 2-0 after two innings and 4-0 after five frames before adding two more scores in the top of the sixth. Hanna’s lone run came in the bottom of the seventh on a pinch-hit sacrifice by Cristian Holloway.

The Sabercats were sparked by the pitching of starter Andre Martinez, who went six innings and tossed a three-hitter with five strikeouts and six walks. Martinez opened the bottom of the seventh by giving up back-to-back walks and promptly was replaced by Nico Rodriguez, who finished the game.

The three hits Martinez allowed were singles by Raul Perez in the first, Lee Alonzo in the fifth and Jonathan Castro in the sixth.

It was a frustrating night for the Eagles, who had a base runner thrown out at the plate in the opening inning and came away empty-handed with bases loaded and two outs in the fifth.

Hanna starter Noe Guerrero lasted five innings, left trailing 4-0 and took the loss. He received relief help from Rolando Ramirez in the sixth and Jacob Lozano in the seventh.

Vela outhit the Eagles 8-3 with Rafael “R.J.” Ochoa leading the way by batting 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI single in the fifth. Also for Vela, Jonathan Navarro had an RBI double in the fourth and Ryan Rodriguez had an RBI single in the sixth, while Mathew De La Cruz plated a run on a sacrifice fly in the second.

Also for Vela, Matt Vela brought in a run on a fielder’s choice in the second and another Sabercat run was scored on a passed ball in the sixth.

“We had an opportunity to come out here, swing the bat and make the play in routine situations, and we did that tonight,” Vela coach Jaime Perez said. “The job (on the mound) that Andre did for us was huge. What he did sets up the table for us. Our program is built on pitching, defense and offense. Andre didn’t have his (complete) electricity tonight, but he was pretty darn good. We were able to win against a very good opponent.”

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

St. Joseph Academy is advancing a solid group of athletes to state after Thursday’s performances at the TAPPS Class 6A South Regional Meet at Heroes Stadium in San Antonio.

The TAPPS Track & Field State Meet is scheduled May 5-6 in Waco.

The top two finishers in each event Thursday qualified for state.

“We actually competed very well compared to the other schools,” SJA assistant coach Ben Sandoval said. “We didn’t have the quantity (of athletes) some of the other schools had.

“We’re taking a very good contingent over there (to Waco),” he added.

San Antonio Antonian won the meet’s boys division with 203 points and SJA was second with 184. The SJA girls did not finish in the top three spots in its team standings.

Highlighting the day for SJA were two first-place boys relays that set school records. They were the 400- and 800-meter relays. Members of the relays were Kai Money, Keaton Cackley, Miguel Guerra and Mario Garcia.

The Bloodhounds won the 800 relay in 1 minute, 30.26 seconds and took first in the 400 relay in 43.08 seconds.
Marte Rodriguez was a double-winner for SJA in the 110 and 300 hurdles with times of 16.40 seconds and 41.31 seconds, respectively.

Garcia and Guerra finished first and second in the 200 dash in 22.84 and 23.62 seconds, respectively.

In the boys field events, SJA’s Pablo Zolezzi won the discus with a throw of 136 feet, 9 inches, while teammate Ricardo Miner was second with a 136-1 effort. Miner won the shot put with a toss of 51-10.

Also for the Bloodhounds, Michael Lopez was second in the pole vault with an 11-6 clearance.

SJA recorded four first places in the girls division, including two by hurdler Gaby Garza.

Garza, coming off a strong showing at the Texas Relays earlier this month, won the 100 hurdles (15.61) and the 300 hurdles (46.63).

Also for the SJA girls, Leslie de la Llata took first in the discus with a throw of 92-4 and Camryn Gloor won the pole vault with a clearance of 9-6.

The Lady Bloodhounds had a couple of third-place relays that also might advance to Waco once all the TAPPS state meet qualifiers have been determined elsewhere around Texas this weekend.

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

An improved round of golf Thursday had the Brownsville Veterans Memorial boys feeling better about their showing at this week’s Region IV-5A Tournament in San Antonio.

The two-day Region IV-5A boys event ended Thursday at the Golf Club of Texas in San Antonio and was played at the same time as the Region IV-6A boys tournament at Republic Golf Club, also in San Antonio.

The Chargers were in 12th place after Wednesday’s opening round and finished ninth in the team standings after Thursday’s play. Their two-day team total was 372-337 — 709.

“Our guys came back from 12th place after Day One,” said Brownsville Veterans golf coach Jose Luis Zarate, whose Lady Chargers earlier in the week won the Region IV-5A girls tournament and qualified for the UIL state tournament next month in Bastrop. “Everyone improved his scores (so that was good to see).”

Leading the way for the Chargers was Kevin Gomez, who shot 89-76 — 165. Other scores for the Chargers included Michael Valle (94-83 — 177), Daniel Yznaga (94-84 — 178), Ryan Ruiz (95-94 — 189) and Jorge Santillana (98-94 — 192).

The top three teams at both 6A and 5A regional tournaments advanced to state along with the top three individual players who were not members of a state-qualifying squad.

At the Region IV-5A event, the top three teams were Alamo Heights (243-241 — 584), Boerne Champion (310-307 — 617) and Austin High (314-313 — 627). Sharyland High was fourth at 643.

Individually, Mac Meissner of Alamo Heights was the 5A regional champion by shooting 67-67 — 134, which was 10 under par. The runner-up was Sharyland High’s Jun Min Lee (67-71 — 138).

Qualifying for state individually from the Valley along with Lee was Mission Veteran Memorial’s Diego Hernandez, who finished in a three-way tie for third by shooting 73-73 — 146.

At the Region IV-6A Tournament, the team champion was Austin Westlake (282-279 — 561) followed by Austin Lake Travis (305-282 — 587) and Comal Smithson Valley (311-294 — 605).

The 6A individual winner was Westlake’s Reese Ramsey, who shot 66-70 — 136 to finish 6 under par at Republic Golf Course. Among the three individual players qualifying for state was McAllen Memorial’s C.W. Phillips, who finished at 72-71 — 143.

Hanna junior Santiago Garcia came in at 78-75 — 153.

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

Ervin Rocha transformed goalkeeper into one of the strongest positions on the Pace soccer team during his two-plus years as a starter.

The standout Vikings goalkeeper will continue his soccer career beyond high school thanks to Wednesday’s signing with Paris Junior College in Northeast Texas.

Rocha put his name on a college athletic scholarship agreement during a ceremony at Pace High School with family, friends, teammates, coaches and Brownsville ISD personnel on hand to witness the milestone achievement in the young goalkeeper’s life.

“This means everything to me,” Rocha said. “I’ve always wanted to prove what I have on the soccer field at the college level and show my teammates that I can do what I’ve always known I could do.

“I just thank my coaches, my parents, my teammates, and everybody who’s always been there for me, and I also say thanks to Paris Junior College for giving me this great opportunity,” Rocha added. “What I’ve heard is that it’s going to be way more of a challenge to play soccer in college than it is in high school. There are going to be a lot more experienced players and it’s going to be harder, but I’m going to go there and try the best I can.”

Rocha has received all-district and All-Metro honors during his time as a four-year member of the Vikings’ varsity squad. He has been a key performer on the past three Pace teams that reached the state playoffs, including the 2016 squad that advanced to the Region IV-5A final.

“I feel very proud of Ervin,” Pace coach Mario A. Zamora said. “He’s been working very hard these past four seasons. At the beginning of his high school career he said it was his goal to sign and play for a college soccer team. What was once a dream is now becoming true, and I’m very happy for him.

“He didn’t start out as the starter, but he always pushed himself to achieve that,” Zamora added. “When we made it to the regional final two seasons ago (with Ervin as a junior), to me he was our MVP that year. He’s definitely been one of our strongest players. Ervin has been there for us and saved a bunch of goals for us. He has a great attitude that has made him into a No. 1 leader and No. 1 player.”

The soon-to-be Pace graduate said he would like to study business management or exercise science in college.

“It’s been a great honor to play for Pace,” said Rocha, who decided at age 6 to be a goalkeeper. “I wouldn’t trade this high school for any other high school. I’m glad I played for this team. I tried to give everything I had in every single game I played.”

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

St. Joseph Academy is taking another strong group of track & field athletes to today’s TAPPS Class 6A South Regional Meet at Heroes Stadium in San Antonio.

The top two finishers in regional competition qualify for next week’s TAPPS state meet in Waco.

SJA has four athletes who went to state last year that are eager for a return. They include Miguel Guerra (200-meter dash, relays), Mario Garcia (previously 400, now running 200 plus relays), Gaby Garza (100 hurdles and 300 hurdles) and Camryn Gloor (pole vault).

Besides the previously mentioned four athletes, additional competitors for SJA who rank first or second in their respective events for regionals include Keaton Cackley (100), Marte Rodriguez (110 hurdles and 300 hurdles plus high jump), Kai Money (long jump), Ricardo Miner (shot put), Pablo Zolezzi (discus) and Leslie de la Llata (discus).

Also, Money, Cackley, Guerra and Garcia are ranked among the top relay teams.

“We’ve got some athletes who are legit,” SJA coach Meme Garza said. “They’ve been at it (competing) since they were freshmen and we have a lot of confidence in them. We’ve been working them hard (in preparation for these final two meets of the season).

“I told them before they left (Wednesday) to be focused on their race, to own their race and to run their race (well),” Garza added. “I know they’re excited about the meet.”

SJA seniors making their final appearances in regional competition and possibly at state include Garcia, Adrian Perez (sprints), Bernie De La Garza (sprints and long jump), Miner (shot put and discus), Miles Fowkes (shot put and discus), Alejandra Segura (sprints and relays), MaJo Del Pozo (sprints and long jump), Ceci De La Garza (sprints and relays) and Carolina Gomez (3,200 run).

SJA athletes have recorded some standout performances in recent weeks leading up to their TAPPS regional and state competitions.

Gaby Garza, a junior, competed at the Texas Relays in Austin earlier this month and set a personal best of 14.27 seconds in the 100 hurdles. She also ran a personal best of 43.54 seconds in the 300 hurdles at the Texas Relays to rank 16th in the state in all high school classes. She ranks 28th in all classes in the 100 hurdles.

Among all Texas juniors, she ranks fourth in the state in the 300 and seventh in the state in the 100.

Money, also a junior, recorded a long jump of 21 feet, 8 inches in late March to place third at the Rio Grande Valley’s Meet of Champions. Also, Money, Cackley, Guerra and Garcia set a school record of 43.33 seconds in the 400 relay at the Raymondville Bearkat Relays earlier this month.

Other teams scheduled to compete at today’s regional meet are San Antonio Central Catholic, San Antonio Antonian, El Paso Cathedral, El Paso Loretto Academy and Incarnate Word High School of San Antonio.

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

The Brownsville Veterans Memorial girls made history for their school Tuesday at the Region IV-5A golf tournament in San Antonio.

Thanks to their first-place finish — both individually and as a team — the Lady Chargers have qualified for next month’s UIL state tournament in golf for the first time.

The two-day Class 5A regional event was played at San Antonio’s Golf Club of Texas.

Leading the way for the Lady Chargers was junior Julie Lucio, who shot a 3-under-par 69 Tuesday to go with her 74 from Monday. She won individual medalist honors with a two-day total of 1-under 143. It was four strokes better than runner-up Raquel Flores of Sharyland High who came in at 79-68 — 147. Sharyland High teammate Laura Rodriguez was third at 74-78 — 152.

The top three teams qualified for the 5A state tournament May 15-16 at Wolfdancer Golf Club in Bastrop along with the top three individual players who were not members of a state-qualifying team.

Lucio was elated about her showing, particularly her final round. She is a Brownsville Hanna transfer who went to the Class 6A state tournament a year ago playing for the Lady Golden Eagles.

Now she’s making history for the Lady Chargers.

“I knew I could do better (after the opening round),” said Lucio, who was the individual medalist at the District 32-5A Tournament earlier this month in Brownsville. “I am so ecstatic that I came back. My mindset was to attack the course and grind it out. I made some crucial putts when I had to.

“The birdie I made on the 18th (a par-5, 420-yard hole) was the highlight of my round (Tuesday),” Lucio added. “I’m so proud of my team and the way they hung in there.”

The Lady Chargers won as a team by recording scores of 307-303 — 610. Second place went to Sharyland High at 323-307 — 630 and third place belonged to Victoria East at 322-314 — 636.

“All of our girls played their hearts out and played through adversity,” Brownsville Veterans coach Jose Luis Zarate said. “There’s no better feeling in sports than witnessing hard work paying off.”

Along with Lucio, the other scores for the Lady Chargers were Vanessa Campos (76-78 — 154), Fahtima Avila (81-74 — 155), Cecilia Garza (78-82 — 160) and Cristina Pullen (79-87 — 166). The best four scores counted toward a team’s overall score each round.

The other team qualifier to the regional tournament from 32-5A was Brownsville Lopez. The Lady Lobos finished out of the running with a two-day total of 817.

Also being played Monday and Tuesday in San Antonio was the Region IV-6A golf tournament at Republic Golf Club.

No teams or individuals from the Rio Grande Valley advanced to state from the 6A regional event. Among the best rounds recorded at the tournament by Valley players from District 32-6A included Weslaco High’s Anika Hovda (73-71 — 144) and Los Fresnos’ Briana Garza (78-73 — 151).

Scheduled the next two days for the boys in San Antonio are the Region IV-6A Tournament at Republic Golf Club and the Region IV-5A Tournament at the Golf Club of Texas. The same format exists for the boys to advance to state in those events.

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

The best is yet to come for Brownsville Veterans Memorial this golf season.

The Chargers and Lady Chargers enter the coming week’s Region IV-5A Tournament in San Antonio with that feeling in mind.

Brownsville Veterans is sending its District 32-5A champion boys and girls golf squads to regional competition with high hopes of qualifying for the UIL state tournament for the first time as an individual or a team.

The regional tournament will be played at San Antonio’s Golf Club of Texas. The girls tournament is Monday and Tuesday and the boys play Wednesday and Thursday.

The top three teams advance to state along with the top three individual players who are not members of a state-qualifying team.

“We just love the sport, and that’s what keeps us going,” said Julie Lucio, a junior for the Lady Chargers who is the top-rated female golfer in the Rio Grande Valley this school year with a 70.33 stroke average. “This is my first year with this team and I just love it. We’ve been working our tails off the whole (school) year for this.”

Lucio is a transfer from Hanna and she advanced to the Class 6A state tournament individually a year ago. Now she has another chance to return to state in Class 5A individually or maybe even go with her team this time. Either way, it would be a first for the school.

Another top-ranked golfer for the Lady Chargers is freshman Vanessa Campos, who was the runner-up individual medalist at district behind Lucio. Lucio repeated as a district individual medalist on April 11 with a two-round total of 2-under-par 142. Campos shot 72-73 — 145 at district and boasts a 75.33 stroke average, which is tied for fourth-best in the Valley.

“We put a great (team) score out there (in winning district by 113 strokes), and I personally know we can do better,” Campos said. “We’re striving to make each other better and I feel we’ll definitely have a good end to our season.

“Winning so handily at district gives us confidence for regionals,” Campos added. “But we know we still have to keep working hard and improving so we can reach our goal (of going to state).”

Two girls teams advanced out of the 32-5A tournament to go to regionals. The runner-up girls squad at district was Lopez.

Besides Campos and Lucio, other members of the Lady Chargers squad going to San Antonio are Fahtima Avila, Cristina Pullen and Cecilia Garza. The Lady Chargers have won all eight of their tournaments this season, including district.

This year marked the first time for the Brownsville Veterans boys and girls golfers to win district in the same season. Each squad has advanced to the regional tournament multiple times.

The Chargers have won five of their eight tournaments this season, also including district, and are led by seniors Kevin Gomez and Michael Valle with stroke averages of 79.07 and 82.60, respectively. Other members of the Brownsville Veterans boys team going to regionals are Ryan Ruiz, Jorge Santillana and Daniel Yznaga.

While Lucio has been the individual medalist in all eight of her tournaments, Gomez, coming off a successful basketball season, has won two tournaments individually and finished as the runner-up twice.

“Having our boys team win district (by a 77-stroke margin over second-place Edcouch-Elsa) gives us a lot of confidence going to regionals and we hope we can make it to state,” Gomez said. “We’re going to try as hard as we can to make it there.

“We just have to play our game and not get too crazy out there — keep getting pars and no bogeys or doubles or triples,” he added. “We have to try and try and not give up.”

Jose Luis Zarate, who is assisted by Ron Lopez, has been the Brownsville Veterans golf coach since the school opened in 2010. Prior to that he was the golf coach at Rivera. He is a 1986 Pace graduate who was a kicker on the University of Houston football team before obtaining his college degree.

“Winning district puts us in a position to try to make some history for our school over there in San Antonio,” said Zarate, who coached the Porter Cowboys to the 5A state soccer title in 2006. “Both the boys and the girls, we’re going to keep working hard and try to do as well as we can.

“We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing and see how it all goes,” Zarate added. “I’m very proud of both of our squads. Getting to state has been the goal all season long.”

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess