BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville Lopez and La Joya Juarez-Lincoln played the first 82 minutes of their Region IV-5A quarterfinal playoff matchup to a scoreless stalemate.
During the 83rd minute, however, Lopez defender Jose Padron punched in the game’s only goal with a bicycle kick to send the Lobos to the regional tournament round with a 1-0 victory over the Huskies on Friday at Brownsville Lopez High School.
“We knew they have an excellent team. We knew it, but I’m going give credit to my guys, too — we have a good team, too,” Lopez head coach Amadeo Escandon said. “We told them it’s whoever runs the most, whoever puts more pressure, and at the end of the game, whoever scores that goal when we need to. All thanks to God, that was us. It wasn’t a goal, it was a ‘golazo.’”
Padron lives on the backline of the Lopez defense, but during the 83rd minute, the Lobos drew up a set play and he was there to finish it off with the game-winner.
“He told me he was going to score it,” Escandon said. “We had a set play, and we had told him you have to be there because we had opportunities in the first half, and he was there with perfect timing.”
“I felt really emotional and really happy,” Padron said about drilling the bicycle kick to keep Lopez’s playoff run alive.
The Lobos advance to next week’s regional tournament to face Leander Rouse. Rouse defeated Leander 2-0 on Friday to set up a fourth-round date with Brownsville Lopez.
“Right now, we’re on a high and hopefully we can maintain that and we’re ready for the next phase,” Escandon said.
Juarez-Lincoln’s season comes to an end in Round 3 of the playoffs at 20-3-2 overall.