By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
It appears the majority of boys teams in District 32-6A are going into the start of district competition with momentum.
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers are feeling pretty good about themselves after winning 2-0 at home Tuesday against Sharyland High in their final non-district tune up before 32-6A action begins Jan. 27. Humberto Treviño and Juan Molina each scored a goal to lift the Chargers over the Rattlers.
“Every game we’ve played, we’ve learned certain things about our players, and they’ve been picking up on what we’re trying to do, so it just seems that we’re hitting the start of district right where we want to be,” Chargers coach Alberto Vasquez said. “This is exactly the way we wanted to finish our pre-district schedule.”
Judging by Tuesday’s shutout, Chargers goalkeeper David Alanis is filling in quite well for Livan Aguirre, an All-Valley selection last season as a sophomore who has moved out of the Valley.
Brownsville Veterans opens district Tuesday at Harlingen South, while Los Fresnoswill be at home against Lopez.
District 32-5A, which includes Pace and Porter, also opens Tuesday.
FALCONS FEELING GOOD
Los Fresnos coach Javier Navarrete is pretty pleased after his team’s strong showing at last weekend’s Gulf Coast Classic in Corpus Christi.
With only two starters back from last year’s playoff team, goalkeeper Jesus Malerva and midfielder Martin Ornelas , it’s definitely a rebuilding season. Yet, the Falcons have done well in tournament competition so far in 2015.
At the Gulf Coast Classic, the Falcons finished as winners of the third-place game, defeating Edinburg Economedes2-0.
Los Fresnos started off the tournament by winning its four-team group in pool play, tying Corpus Christi Moody 2-2 before beating Edinburg High 2-1 and Rockport-Fulton 6-0. In the tournament semifinals, the Falcons were edged 1-0 on penalty kicks by Edinburg Vela, which later lost to Corpus Christi King 2-1 on penalties in the title match.
“For having just two starters back from last year’s group, the team exceeded my expectations and is coming together nicely,” Navarrete said. “I’m excited. The kids are responding well to all the tactical adjustments we made on a game-to-game basis (in the tournament).
“I’m excited to see how we will respond in the tough district (32-6A) that we are in,” the Falcons coach added.
Among those scoring goals for the Falcons at the tournament were Ornelas, Fernando Barrientos, Ivan Jimenez, Joshua Ramirez, Jesus Gonzalez, Juan Lozoya and Juan Sandoval.
SITE CHANGE
District 32-6A home games for the Rivera boys and girls teams will be played at Sams Memorial Stadium this year because the soccer field on the Rivera campus has been deemed unsuitable for play. Actually, the majority of home district games for the Rivera teams were played at Sams last season for the same reason.
When 32-6A starts Tuesday, the Rivera boys will be playing host to Harlingen High at Sams.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess