By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
A little more than 10 years ago, a sports writer from The Brownsville Herald was interviewing Porter soccer players Jorge Briones and Diego Rodriguez at the start of the 2006 high school season.
The two captains for the Cowboys expressed a strong belief that their team was going to win state that year.
“That’s a worthy goal,” the reporter thought to himself. “Good luck with that.”
Sure enough, a few months later, the Cowboys brought home the Class 5A championship, rallying to upset a favored Coppell team 2-1 in overtime in the state final at Round Rock.
The Lopez Lobos had won the Class 4A state title just two years earlier, and the victory by Porter in 2006 at the 5A level seemed to signal a trend that there were even more good times ahead for Brownsville soccer.
That was a few UIL state championships ago. The title count is now up to four and counting.
As a result, there is no doubt high school soccer in Brownsville has become something special.
Many would readily agree with the frequently heard saying “Brownsville es Futbol.”
With each passing UIL state championship, Brownsville’s most successful high school sport continues to add to its uniqueness and distinction as a shining source of pride for the city.
While no one can deny football is king in Texas, “futbol” in Brownsville occupies an esteemed spot as well, and justifiably so considering the top showings its teams churn out in UIL competition almost annually.
So why not take a little time to recognize and celebrate the success and impact of Brownsville soccer?
That is the idea behind The Herald’s summer-long soccer series that kicks off today. A story in the series is planned for every Sunday through July. The primary focus is on the achievements of Brownsville’s high school boys teams since the UIL sport began in Texas in 1983. The series will culminate with a look at some of Brownsville’s all-time best teams and players and dig deeper into what make’s Brownsville soccer stand out.
It should be fun.
Let’s not forget the girls. They started playing UIL soccer in the Rio Grande Valley in 1997 and gradually are catching up to the accomplishments of the boys. The Valley appears to be close to sending its first girls team to state sometime soon.
Perhaps Valley girls soccer can draw inspiration from the recent state-qualifying breakthroughs made by the softball teams of San Benito and Weslaco High.
And yet, by comparison, the way expectations exist right now for Brownsville boys soccer teams, just getting to state is simply not enough. They go to state these days with a well-founded confidence, a strong determination and an expectation of winning it all.
That says everything about the high level of soccer played in Brownsville, and actually in the Valley. It also helps explain how Rivera pretty much cruised to the inaugural Class 6A state title in boys soccer in 2015 with a 28-0 record and how Porter was able to follow up Rivera’s feat by capturing its second 5A state title this season with a 28-0-1 mark.
The beauty of it all is it’s not just one Brownsville school always going to state.
Brownsville has sent Southmost neighbors Lopez and Porter to state a Valley-record four times each, including both of them this season in 6A and 5A, respectively, which was a first for the city. Rivera has gone to state three times and Hanna twice. And on three occasions, Pace has come within only one win of earning a trip to state. Each of those three times (2006, 2007 and 2016), the Vikings were edged in a regional final by another Brownsville team.
Four of the six current boys coaches at Brownsville’s largest public high schools have coached in at least one UIL state final. That’s actually pretty amazing. What other city in Texas can boast of such an achievement within its school district?
Which prompts the question, after seeing Rivera and Porter win back-to-back state championships with unbeaten records these past two seasons, does it mark the high point of a golden era for the sport in Brownsville?
Then again, maybe the answer is the best is yet to come.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess