By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Things are a little different this soccer season in the Rio Grande Valley.
For 30-plus years, the Brownsville ISD Tournament for boys teams has been played during the opening week of the season in January, but not this year.
According to UIL rules, the 2015 regular season begins Thursday.
The BISD Tournament will still be played with boys and girls teams next week. Taking its place this week for the boys is the 42-team Mission Eagle Invitational, the biggest tournament in Valley history for high school squads. It will be played in the Mission area beginning Thursday with Mission High as the host.
A couple of Brownsville teams will be playing in the Mission Invitational, while other Metro-area teams are scheduled to play in tournaments out of the Valley this weekend.
The Lopez Lobos, District 32-5A champions last season who advanced to the UIL state tournament in Georgetown before finishing with a 22-3-1 record, will be playing in Mission.
When asked if he recalled a time when the BISD Tournament wasn’t played on the opening weekend of the season, Lopez’s Amadeo Escandon, a former player at Hanna who is now entering his 18th season as the Lobos’ coach, said, “Not that I remember.”
As is the case with almost every team, winning a tournament at this point so early in the season would be nice, but there are other important goals to be achieved as well.
“Mostly, we hope to start achieving team chemistry, and to try out new players and different tactical formations and movements,” Escandon said of his team’s goals for the tournament at Mission.
Also scheduled to play at the Mission boys event are Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Los Fresnos, while Rivera and Hanna are scheduled to go to the Houston area for play in separate tournaments, weather permitting.
Some Valley teams have non-district games scheduled this week to open the regular season.
GIRLS TOURNAMENTS: Tournaments in McAllen, La Feria and Laredo will be destinations for Valley girls teams this week.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial, Pace, Port Isabel and IDEA Frontier are scheduled to play at the 24-team La Feria Tournament beginning Thursday, and Lopez and Rivera are set to play in the McAllen Showcase, which starts Thursday at the De Leon Middle School Complex with McAllen High as the host. Los Fresnos’ girls are going to Laredo’s Border Olympics tournament along with several other Valley teams, including Harlingen South.
Concerning the La Feria Tournament, Lionettes coach Norma Medina-Tamez said, “I see the field competition as a great opportunity for coaches to see their players perform.”
Also, the Porter Cowgirls, coming off a 2-1 scrimmage victory over Lopez earlier this week in a match that ended early because the lights went out at Sams Memorial Stadium, are headed to a tournament in Brenham, weather permitting.
SJA UPDATE: The St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds (6-1-1) suffered their first setback of the season, losing 4-1 Saturday in a TAPPS district road game against San Antonio Central Catholic, the defending TAPPS state champion. Mario Garcia scored the Bloodhounds’ goal.
Then on Monday, the Bloodhounds played Brownsville Veterans Memorial to a 1-1 tie. Gerardo Moses scored SJA’s goal in that game.
The Bloodhounds next play host to Port Isabel at 6 p.m. Tuesday before playing in next week’s BISD Tournament.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.