By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
In the end, two champions were better than one at the 33rd annual Brownsville ISD Boys Soccer Tournament.
“Brownsville wins again, twice,” Porter coach Jose Espitia said.
The Porter Cowboys prevailed in the Black Bracket and the Rivera Raiders were Silver Bracket winners Friday at the 32-team tournament at Brownsville Sports Park. Both were declared tournament champions of their 16-team brackets.
The two bracket winners originally were scheduled to play Saturday to determine an overall tournament champion. But due to a concern over possible injuries Saturday and for those injuries that already existed among the final four teams, plus a scheduling conflict for use of the main field with the BISD girls tournament going on at the same site, it was agreed upon Friday to forego overall title and third-place matches, leaving two squads with tournament titles.
“It was decided before the bracket finals were played that was what we were going to do,” said Rivera coach Salvador Garcia, the tournament director.
On Friday night, Porter edged Lopez 3-2 on penalty kicks in the Black Bracket championship, while Rivera raced past La Joya Palmview 8-2 in the Silver Bracket final.
Instead of having pool play “mini-games” as in seasons past, there were full matches with 40-minute halves and bracket play all the way through in the boys tournament this year.
During its four tournament matches, Porter defeated Laredo LBJ (4-0), PSJA Southwest (1-0), Donna North (4-3) and Lopez. In gaining its bracket championship, Rivera downed La Joya High (8-0), Laredo Martin (9-0), McAllen High (6-1) and La Joya Palmview.
While Rivera basically breezed to its title, Porter had some close matches, especially its bracket final against “Battle of Southmost” rival Lopez.
Against the Lobos, Porter fell behind 2-0 by halftime on goals by Lopez’s Leo Martinez and Felix Nava. The Cowboys rallied to tie it with a pair of goals by Julio Perez during the second half. After regulation play ended, the match went to penalty kicks, and the penalties were extended beyond the standard five-player alternating rotation per team before a winner was decided.
Cesar Grimaldo had the game-winning penalty goal for Porter. Cowboys goalkeeper Miguel de la Cruz made a game-saving play on Lopez’s final penalty try to secure the win.
Porter won the BISD Tournament title last year with a 2-1 victory over Laredo United.
“It was another ‘clasico,’” Espitia said. “Our kids just came back. It was the ‘Battle of Southmost,’ and they knew it was the last one (this season), and they didn’t want to lose.
“It was an awesome game,” he added. “We were lucky to win. Both teams played their hearts out.”
During the Rivera-La Joya Palmview match, Alexis Herrera, Eliseo Ortiz and Isidro “Chelin” Martinez each scored a pair of goals, and teammates Edward Rojas and Hernan Cruz each contributed a solo tally.
The Raiders built a comfortable 4-0 lead by halftime and increased it to 5-0 before La Joya Palmview staged a minor rally.
“We made a 10-for-10 (player) substitution leading 5-0, and within two minutes or so, it was 5-2, and then we put the starters back in,” Garcia said.
Of his team’s play so far this season, the Rivera coach said, “I think we’ve been playing consistently well on offense and defense. The fact that we had only three goals scored against us (in the tournament) talks well about our defense, and of course, we have the same guys as last year (on the offensive end), so we expect to put some goals in the net.
“We’re getting to the point where we need to be going into our District (32-6A) opener (Jan. 27),” he added. “We still have a week to improve and fix the little things we need to fix. Hopefully we’ll be ready, because we know that whatever we’ve done up to this point doesn’t count once we start district competition.”
In Friday’s Silver Bracket third-place game, Hanna defeated McHi 4-0, while Edinburg North won the Black Bracket third-place match with a 2-0 triumph over Donna North.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.
Tournament Scores
Friday, Jan. 16
Silver Bracket Teams — Rivera, La Joya High, Hidalgo, Laredo Martin, McAllen High, Weslaco High, Grulla, Pace, La Joya Palmview, Mission Veterans, McAllen Rowe, Port Isabel, Laredo United South, Harlingen High, Hanna, PSJA Memorial
Black Bracket Teams — Lopez, Laredo Alexander, PSJA High, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln, St. Joseph Academy, Brownsville Veterans Memorial, Edinburg North, Rio Grande City, Donna North, San Antonio Antonian, Mercedes, Harlingen South, PSJA Southwest, Mission High, Laredo LBJ, Porter
Game 33: Brownsville Veterans Memorial 1, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 0
Game 34: PSJA Southwest 2, Harlingen South 1
Game 35: Rio Grande City 1, PSJA High 0, PKs
Game 36: San Antonio Antonian 3, Laredo LBJ 1
Game 37: Brownsville Pace 2, Laredo Martin 0
Game 38: McAllen Rowe 1, Laredo United South 0
Game 39: Grulla 5, Hidalgo 2
Game 40: Harlingen High 2, Port Isabel 1
Game 41: Brownsville Lopez 3, Edinburg North 1
Game 42: Laredo Alexander 2, Brownsville St. Joseph 1
Game 43: Brownsville Porter 4, Donna North 3
Game 44: Mission High 3, Merc3edes 0
Game 45: Brownsville Rivera 6, McAllen High 1
Game 46: Weslaco High 2, La Joya High 1, PKs
Game 47: La Joya Palmview 2, Brownsville Hanna 1
Game 48: PSJA Memorial 4, Mission Veterans Memorial 2
Game 51: Harlingen High 2, Grulla 1, PKs
Game 52: Port Isabel 4, Hidalgo 3, PKs
Game 55: San Antonio Antonian 7, Rio Grande City 5
Game 56: PSJA High 3, Laredo LBJ 2
Game 58: La Joya High 6, Mission Veterans Memorial 1
Game 60: Brownsville St. Joseph 1, Mercedes 0, forfeit
Silver Bracket seventh place
Game 50: Laredo United South 7, Laredo Martin 2
Black Bracket seventh place
La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 2, Harlingen South 0
Silver Bracket fifth place
Game 49: Brownsville Pace 3, McAllen Rowe 2, PKs
Black Bracket fifth place
Game 53: PSJA Southwest 3, Brownsville Veterans Memorial 0
Silver Bracket third place
Game 57: Brownsville Hanna 4, McAllen High 0
Black Bracket third place
Game 59: Edinburg North 2, Donna North 0
Black Bracket consolation championship
Game 62: Laredo Alexander 4, Mission High 3, PKs
Silver Bracket consolation championship
Game 63: Weslaco High 2, PSJA Memorial 1, PKs
Black Bracket championship
Game 61: Brownsville Porter 3, Brownsville Lopez 2, PKs
Silver Bracket championship
Game 64: Brownsville Rivera 8, La Joya Palmview 2
Saturday, Jan. 17
Games canceled by coach’s decision