By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
With the start of play in their respective districts just one week away, Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Sharyland High were looking for strong showings during Tuesday’s non-conference match at the Chargers’ field.
Brownsville Veterans displayed the kind of solid soccer it was hoping to show by scoring one goal during each half to post a 2-0 victory over the Rattlers.
Humberto Trevino’s long shot from the right side bounced into a crowd of players just in front of the goal and went in midway through the first half for a 1-0 Brownsville Veterans lead. Then, with a little more than one minute remaining in the second half, teammate Juan Molina sealed the victory by sending a crossing shot into the left corner of the net from about 20 yards out on the right side.
Led by goalkeeper Daniel Alanis, the Brownsville Veterans defense fended off numerous determined attacks by the Rattlers throughout the second half.
“This is exactly the way we wanted to finish our predistrict schedule,” Chargers coach Alberto Vasquez said. “This gives us a little bit of momentum, having played against a high-quality team (and won).
“I think both teams left everything on the field,” Vasquez added. “They both played hard. It’s always good to have the ball bounce your way a little bit and be able to get those scores like we had. It gives us the momentum and confidence to go into district just the way we wanted to.”
The Chargers open District 32-6A action Jan. 27 at Harlingen South, and the Rattlers begin District 31-5A play Jan. 30 at Edinburg Vela.
Tuesday marked the final non-district tuneup for Brownsville Veterans, which returns six starters from last year’s playoff team. Sharyland High still has one non-district match remaining at home Friday against La Joya High.
One of Sharyland High’s best chances Tuesday came with a little more than 28 minutes left when a corner kick taken from the left side was headed just wide of the far post.
“Veterans is a very good team, they’re feisty,” Rattlers coach Reveriano Hernandez said. “They were the better team and beat us tonight. It’s better for a game like this to happen for us now (than in disstrict).”
The Chargers were coming off last weekend’s participation in the 33rd annual Brownsville ISD Tournament that attracted 32 teams to Brownsville Sports Park.
The Rattlers were fresh from tournament action at the Smithson Valley Ranger Classic during the past weekend.