By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
GEORGETOWN — The Porter Cowboys have one more game left in their soccer season, and it is Saturday’s Class 5A championship at the UIL state tournament.
It’s just what the Cowboys have wanted all season long as they’ve envisioned this type of scenario becoming reality, and now it has finally come to pass.
Thanks to a pair of second-half goals by Alexis Anzures plus solo tallies by Marco Don Juan and Enrique Soto, the Cowboys broke out of a scoreless first half and prevailed 4-1 against El Paso Eastlake on Thursday in the 5A state semifinals at Georgetown ISD’s Birkelbach Field.
“I’m very happy with this win,” Cowboys coach Jose Espitia said. “We knew El Paso was going to be a very tough team, and if you saw the first half, it was very evenly matched. We noticed that they had a deadly counter attack, so we had to make some adjustments.
“We told the players to be careful, but at the same time we didn’t want to stop playing our style (of attacking) and maintaining possession of the ball,” Espitia added. “Yes, we kept attacking, but we were also mindful of their counter attack, and things worked out for us.”
Porter (27-0-1) advances to Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. 5A state final against Frisco Wakeland (25-0-1). The Wolverines looked impressive in their 5A state semifinal earlier Thursday by defeating Pflugerville Connally 4-0. Wakeland scored on a header off a corner kick during the first minute and led 3-0 at intermission en route to a dominating win.
The Cowboys had their dominating moments as well Thursday, particularly during the second half.
Porter went ahead 1-0 during the 48th minute when the ball was bouncing around in the goalmouth before being deflected out. The ball came to Anzures on the left side about 15 yards out, and he redirected it back toward the goal and into the net for Porter’s initial score.
It was just the beginning of a memorable second half for the Cowboys.
During the 55th minute, Don Juan found the net as well from much closer range to make it 2-0.
Still, Porter wasn’t done as Anzures added his second tally into an open net on a narrow angle from the right side during the 73rd minute. Soto completed the Cowboys’ scoring by making it 4-0 in the 75th minute.
Due to a tripping call on Porter with three minutes left, the Falcons (22-3-1) were awarded a penalty kick and Jonathan Hernandez converted it into the left corner of the goal to account for the final score.
Porter made its fourth appearance at the state tournament Friday, while it was the first time at Georgetown for Eastlake.
Porter became the first Rio Grande Valley team to qualify for state in soccer in 1984. That season, the state tournament was played at Austin Westlake and the Cowboys lost in the state semifinals.
The Cowboys returned to the state tournament in 2006, when the event was played in Round Rock, and they captured the 5A championship with a 2-1 overtime victory against Coppell.
Porter reached state again in 2011 and lost in the semifinals at Georgetown.
The Cowboys are tied with Lopez for the most appearances at state by a Valley team, each with four. The Lobos (21-2-1) make their fourth appearance when they play Austin Lake Travis (24-1) on Friday in a Class 6A state semifinal.
To reach Georgetown this season, the District 32-5A champion Cowboys won five playoff games. The victories came against Edinburg Vela (2-0), Calallen (4-3 in penalty kicks), Sharyland High (2-0), Alamo Heights (4-1) and crosstown rival Pace (2-1 in overtime).
Next school year, Porter and Lopez will both be in 32-5A.