By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
When the soccer match matters most down the stretch, the Hanna Golden Eagles are at their best, especially in District 32-6A.
Hanna is now 2-0 in 32-6A thanks to Friday’s 3-0 victory at home against Harlingen High as the Eagles broke out of a tight game with three goals during the final 21 1/2 minutes.
Hanna rallied from a 1-0 deficit with three goals during the last 18 minutes to win 3-1 in its district opener Tuesday at San Benito.
“It’s like I said before that every (32-6A) game is going to be interesting,” Eagles coach Reyes Prado said. “Yes, I said jokingly or not that the coaches are going to get a lot more grey hair (with these matches), but it’s fine. I guess it’s going to make us better in the long run competing against these teams (such as Harlingen High) that continue to get better and better every year.
“We’re fine (with that),” Prado added. “We accept the challenge and we look forward to it. Now we have to look to the match against our next opponent, which is (at Brownsville) Veterans (Memorial on Tuesday).
“Everybody has a good team and everybody is well-coached. We can see that on the field. It’s just as I suspected. It’s a dogfight every time that we play.”
The Eagles pressed the attack throughout the first half, but it was scoreless at intermission.
Things broke in Hanna’s favor with 21 1/2 minutes remaining as Jesus Hernandez’s goal from fairly close range put the Eagles on top 1-0.
It became 2-0 with 8 1/2 minutes left when the Eagles scored off a corner kick taken from the left side by Antonio Salazar.
The corner kick came to Edgar Loyde, who sent the ball into the goal on a perfectly placed header.
With 2 1/2 minutes to go, Hanna’s Oscar Cordova dribbled in undeterred and launched a strong shot that carried into the right corner of the net from approximately 18 yards out to account for the final result of 3-0.
Harlingen High, coming off a 1-0 loss to Rivera on Tuesday, will play next Tuesday at home against San Benito.