By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The UIL soccer playoffs this year involve just about every boys and girls team in the Metro area, which covers Brownsville, Los Fresnos and Port Isabel.
Fourteen of 18 area squads will be participating in the postseason when bi-district competition starts Thursday.
Twelve of them play Thursday and the other two on Friday.
“We’re positive, we’re confident and we’re ready to go as far as we can,” said Porter’s Lizbeth Garcia, a junior utility player whose team has qualified for the girls soccer playoffs for the first time in school history. “My teammates are amazing and we want to go far this season.”
The Cowgirls play at Valley View at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Playing home matches Thursday will be the boys squads from Rivera, Lopez and Porter along with the Los Fresnos girls.
The Porter boys take on Edinburg Vela at 7 p.m. at Brownsville Sports Park, while Rivera and Lopez are part of a boys doubleheader at Sams Memorial Stadium. Rivera goes against PSJA Memorial at 6 p.m. and Lopez faces Edinburg Economedes at 8 p.m.
Also, the Los Fresnos girls are scheduled to play host to PSJA North at 6:30 p.m. at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium.
The Porter boys, ranked No. 1 in the Rio Grande Valley by RGVSports.com, want to keep their game in top form.
“We’re starting the postseason now, and hopefully we can continue playing the same way (as we did to win District 32-5A with a 14-0 record),” Porter boys coach Jose Espitia said.
Some area squads weren’t as fortunate with their coin flips to be the home team for a bi-district match.
“We lost the flip, but God willing not the game,” Hanna boys coach Reyes Prado said.
The Golden Eagles play at 6 p.m. Thursday at Weslaco East.
Other road games for area boys teams Thursday find Port Isabel at Monte Alto at 3 p.m., Pace vs. Roma at 7 p.m. at Mercedes and IDEA Frontier at Hidalgo at 8 p.m.
For area girls teams Thursday, besides Porter at Valley View, the road games include Port Isabel at Raymondville at noon, Pace vs. Sharyland Pioneer at 7 p.m. at Weslaco’s Bobby Lackey Stadium and Brownsville Veterans Memorial at Edinburg Economedes at 7:30 p.m.
Friday’s two bi-district matches involving area teams have the Lopez girls at Edinburg High at 6 p.m. and the Brownsville Veterans boys playing Edinburg North at 7:30 p.m. at Sams,
WITNESS TO HISTORY
Pace football coach/athletic coordinator William Deen was on hand for the Pace-Porter girls soccer game March 4 at Pace. At the conclusion of the match, both teams learned they had qualified for the state playoffs because of the result of another 32-5A game.
The Pace girls have gone to the postseason before, but not the Cowgirls. They’ve come close, but never reached the playoffs until now.
It dawned on Deen that he was witnessing Porter athletic history for the second time. He was an assistant coach at Porter under Jim Helms in 2003 when the Cowboys qualified for the playoffs in football for the first time with Billy Garza, now a coach at Pace, as quarterback.
On that particular night earlier this month, Deen saw another Porter team reach a milestone accomplishment.
“I’m a witness to history again,” he said.
CHASING FIRSTS
Port Isabel’s boys have played UIL soccer since 2004 and its girls are playing only their third season.
To date, neither Tarpons team has claimed a playoff victory, but that could change Thursday as the girls play at Raymondville and the boys travel to Monte Alto.
The Port Isabel boys were co-champions this season with Progreso in District 32-4A, while the Lady Tarpons finished second behind La Feria in 32-4A.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess