By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — The La Joya Palmview Lobos rallied to win 2-1 in overtime against the Brownsville Porter Cowboys Thursday night in the Class 5A bi-district soccer playoffs.
The victory at Porter sends the District 31-5A runner-up Lobos to next week’s second round of the 5A playoffs to face Corpus Christi Veterans, a 5-0 bi-district winner against Calallen, also Thursday.
Porter, the District 32-5A third-place team, ended its season 22-7-2.
The match went to overtime tied at 1.
The outcome didn’t turn in Palmview’s favor until three and a half minutes remained in the second half of OT. That’s when Jonathan Delgado fired a shot from the left side that went off the crossbar and into the net, sealing Porter’s fate.
Earlier, the Cowboys scored on a header from the right side during the 25th minute to lead 1-0, but that was their only time to find the net.
The Lobos had an apparent goal by Cesar Lopez waived off five minutes into the second half, which was the 45th minute, due to a foul, but they still tied the score on a direct kick from about 20 yards out on the right side by Delgado during the 60th minute.
From there, it was either team’s match for the taking, and the Lobos came up with the goal that won it 2-1 in overtime.
Palmview goalkeeper Ruben Martinez made some standout plays guarding the net to highlight the win.