By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
It didn’t take long for the Lopez Lobos to get off to a strong start Thursday in their Class 6A bi-district soccer match against Edinburg Economedes at Sams Memorial Stadium.
District 32-6A champion Lopez went ahead 2-0 just 3 1/2 minutes into the action en route to winning 6-1 against the District 31-6A fourth-place Jaguars.
“We’ve been training hard and this win was very important,” said Edson Solis, a junior forward who scored twice for the Lobos. “Thank God we got it, and thanks to the people who came out to support us.”
The ball was crossed from the right side and drilled into the goal by Solis for a 1-0 lead with barely 1 minute and 30 seconds gone by. Then Benito Cazares was on the scoring end of a set play off a free kick to make it 2-0 for Lopez with only 3 1/2 minutes having elapsed.
Lopez’s scoring attack seemed to stall the rest of the first half as Economedes pulled to within 2-1 on Jonathan Segundo’s header with five minutes remaining before intermission.
But the Lobos came alive again during the second half and dominated the rest of the way by scoring the next four goals.
“I think this game shows how our players work,” Lobos assistant coach Abraham Torres said. “They never give up and they end up getting the result. It just shows the dedication that they started displaying way back in December (when practice started).
“They put in the work and they’re seeing the fruits of their labor, like tonight,” Torres added. “I think this game was kind of a summary of their hard work during the season. At halftime, they seemed to be saying to each other ‘We’ve got to get our heads together and communicate better as a team.’ That’s what they did in the second half. They realized what they needed to do, (corrected it) and moved on.”
It became 3-1 during the 57th minute when Solis received a pass from the right side and nudged the ball forward with his chest into the left corner of the goal from close range.
Allan Ramos also scored from close range during the 60th minute to make it 4-1. A free kick by Jose Echavarria found the mark during 63rd minute and increased the lead to 5-1. Sebastian Benavides tallied from the right side during the 76th minute to complete the scoring.
The Lobos now move on to next week’s area playoffs to face La Joya High, a 3-2 winner against Laredo LBJ on Thursday.