By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
WESLACO — In the moment, Azael Vela didn’t know what had occurred.
Did his defender fall down on his own? Did Vela push him?
“I wasn’t sure,” the PSJA North junior said. “But I saw an opportunity, and the only thing I had in mind then was to get the goal.”
Once the Brownsville Hanna defender slipped, Vela paused momentarily before blasting a 15-yard goal from the left elbow to lift his team to a 1-0 win over Brownsville Hanna in the regional quarterfinals Tuesday at Weslaco East.
Vela buried the shot with 19:53 left to play, after PSJA North had struggled to generate much offensively. Their primary scoring threat, Juan Rodriguez, was back in action after sitting out a game following a couple yellow cards in bi-district. But it didn’t translate to too many shots on goal, at least compared to Hanna.
The Golden Eagles were aggressive all night, attempting nine shots at the net and four others that went wide. PSJA North, by contrast, had seven, but only two seemed to actually have a chance of going in, including the one Vela converted.
Midway through the second half, the junior wing had beaten his defender on the left block, drawing the Brownsville Hanna goalkeeper in front. As the ’keeper raced forward to challenge him, Vela fired off a left-footed shot into the right corner of the net, setting up a regional semifinal match against San Antonio Brandeis at 7 p.m. Friday in Brownsville. Brandeis cruised by Schertz Clemens 4-0 in their quarterfinal match Tuesday.
“We played against a very good team,” Vela said in Spanish. “But we came here to try get ahead, and that’s what we did. Thank God we came out with the victory.”
All night, it seemed, PSJA North struggled to keep up with Hanna. The only advantage it had was in the lack of offside calls. Hanna had accumulated five by halftime; North had none.
With Rodriguez back in the lineup, PSJA North coach Jacob Hinojosa said his team felt more confident in their attack. Rodriguez picked up two yellow cards against Brownsville Lopez last week, automatically removing him from the following game, which North managed to win against Brownsville Veterans 1-0.
In his return, though, he gave North “another weapon,” Hinojosa said.
“He had them a little bit relaxed throughout the game,” the coach said. “He brought that sense that we have someone up front that can make the plays or distract some of the defenders.”
Hinojosa admitted the physicality of the game — which produced a yellow card for each team — “shook us up a bit.” In the second half, though, the Raiders adjusted. They played more physical to match Hanna. And it was during that stretch, in fact, that Vela wondered whether it was his physicality, perhaps, that created the best opportunity for him to sink the go-ahead goal.
Hinojosa described it as a “big goal” by “a great player” whose game has grown exponentially this season after playing on the junior varsity squad last year.
“He’s definitely raised his level of play,” Hinojosa said.
Also key for North was the play of goalkeeper Jose Ordoñez, who had six saves on Tuesday, including two deflections where he dove “like Superman,” Hinojosa said, to preserve the shutout.
Ordoñez’s play has been all the more impressive considering his background. Prior to this season, he had never played goalkeeper. But with Beto Molina sidelined with an illness during tournament play, Ordoñez was inserted into that role, and he’s kept the starting spot ever since.
No performance has been bigger this year, though, than Tuesday’s, when he helped put an end to Hanna’s season.
“It’s hard to lose, especially at this point in the year,” Hanna coach Reyes Prado said. “They did a hell of a job; PSJA (North) has a good team. They had a chance, they scored and that’s it. We had so many chances, but we couldn’t score. That’s how it goes.”