By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
There’s something about picking up a confidence-boosting win early in the soccer season that feels pretty good.
The Porter Cowboys earned one at home Tuesday night against the Harlingen High Cardinals.
Porter built a comfortable 3-0 first-half lead and wound up winning 4-1.
“I couldn’t remember the last time Harlingen High played here at Porter High School, and it looked like an interesting matchup,” Cowboys coach Jose Espitia said about arranging the game. “The Cardinals had a big rivalry against the Brownsville schools in the early 1990s.
“I told our players (since it was a non-district match) to just go out there and have some fun, while at the same time continuing to work on what we’ve been doing,” Espitia added. “Our guys did really well. We subbed between eight to 10 of our players (at different times) in the first 20 minutes or so. The ones who went in played well, too.
“Seeing the backups go in and the team continue to do well was what we wanted to see. I was really happy with the boys.”
Goals by Porter’s Jose Xavier Mateos, Brandon Montes and Ossiris Hernandez during the ninth, 14th and 20th minutes, respectively, made it 3-0.
During the 54th minute, Porter’s Oscar Garcia came in fast down the middle on a breakaway attack and fired a shot into the net from about 15 yards away to increase the lead to 4-0.
Harlingen High’s Skylar Zapata scored the Cardinals’ lone goal with five minutes remaining. The Porter goalkeeper was unable to secure the loose ball before Zapata punched it in from a close distance near the right post.
Harlingen High coach Johnny Guillen said his squad was at a disadvantage Tuesday because of injuries.
“Battling the injury bug to get healthy by district time is the main thing for us right now,” Guillen said. “I scheduled some tough non-district opponents (like Porter) to get us ready for district.
“Honestly, I’ve got about eight to 10 starters hurt, and they didn’t play tonight,” he added. “It’s only my second year as the head coach, and I never thought I’d be saying I had 10 players out.
“Porter’s an amazing team, and the ones who played for us against them did a great job. I’m just glad our guys came out here and competed (despite our injury situation). Porter is a team that is well-coached and can touch the ball very well.”
The 2019 UIL season began last Thursday, and the Cowboys are coming off a third-place finish at last weekend’s second annual Southmost Classic in Brownsville. The Cardinals played at a Houston tournament last weekend.
This week, both teams will be participating in the 37th annual Brownsville ISD Tournament/Showcase starting Thursday at Brownsville Veterans Memorial, Hanna and Rivera.