By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The Hanna Golden Eagles are headed to the area round, where they’ll face the McAllen High Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Hanna.
The Eagles earned a trip to the second round after defeating the Edinburg North Cougars on Monday. They were in jeopardy of losing their bi-district game ̶ trailing with just more than five minutes to go ̶ when they took control and won by double digits.
If Hanna is going to advance one round further, coach Todd Barckholtz wants to see a better overall showing from his team.
“We’re still trying to get our best 32 minutes,” he said after the game Tuesday. “In spurts we looked good in the first quarter, we struggled in the second and we found it at the end. As long as we find enough at the end, we’ll keep moving on.”
The Bulldogs, out of District 30-6A, defeated Del Rio 56-43 in their opening-round game.
FALCONS FLYING HIGH
The Los Fresnos Falcons are slated to face the Laredo United Longhorns in the area round at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Corpus Christi Carroll.
The Falcons rallied late to defeat the PSJA North Raiders 54-47 on Tuesday night. It wasn’t until the majority of the game had passed before Los Fresnos pulled ahead.
Similarly to the Eagles’ coach, Falcons coach Marco Hinojosa realizes that if his team doesn’t iron out some problems, it won’t be moving on.
“If we play like this, we will not win an area-round game,” Hinojosa said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s our first playoff win in a very long time so they had a big monkey on their back. I think that pressure’s off of them now, and they know that they can go and do it. They’ll play better come area round.”
The Falcons’ upcoming opponent is from District 29-6A and defeated McAllen Rowe in the bi-district round.
BOWING OUT
Three Metro-area teams lost in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers, who finished in fourth place in District 32-6A, were beaten 57-52 on Tuesday by the Weslaco High Panthers.
The Pace Vikings, who finished in second place in District 32-5A, were defeated 65-32 on Tuesday by Mission Veterans Memorial.
In District 32-3A, the Brownsville IDEA Frontier Chargers lost their bi-district game 68-39 on Monday to Santa Gertrudis.
’HOUNDS IN ACTION
The St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds begin their TAPPS playoff run at 4:30 p.m. Friday against Addison Trinity Christian at A&M Consolidated in College Station.
The Bloodhounds finished in third place in their district with a 17-11 overall record and 1-5 record in district.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.