DONNA —The Donna North Chiefs and Brownsville Rivera Raiders entered Friday’s District 32-6A finale separated by only one point in the standings. The Raiders sat tied for first place with 31 points, while the Chiefs held the No. 3 spot with 30 points.
After 100 minutes of play, including a pair of overtime periods, the Chiefs and the Raiders headed to penalty kicks to decide the No. 2 seed in district.
The normal five-shot shootout proved not to be enough, with the Raiders downing the Chiefs 3-2 in eight penalty kicks Friday at Donna North.
“If you’re going to go down, I couldn’t ask more from this team,” Donna North head coach Andres Sanchez said. “They held their ground. It’s an excellent team that was in front of them. They were in the game the whole game. We had our chances to win it and so did Rivera. I’m pleased with our performance. I’m happy that we are finishing the season this way. It’s not a win, but it’s the next best thing.”
The loss drops the Chiefs to third in the district, finishing league play with a 9-2-3 record. Meanwhile, the Raiders finish second in the district with a 10-2-2 mark, with the Brownsville Hanna Eagles claiming the district title with a 5-1 victory over Harlingen High.
With 10 seconds remaining during the first overtime period, Donna North’s Deandray Quezada fired a shot from midfield, putting the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net to give the Chiefs a 2-1 advantage.
The Raiders answered with a goal during the second overtime period to send the game into penalty kicks.
Enrique Casillas opened the scoring for the Chiefs during the first half, sending Donna North into the break with a 1-0 lead. The Raiders tied the game on a score from Marco Diaz during the second half.
Diaz added the game-tying goal during the second overtime period,
“It was a very tense game,” Sanchez said. “Rivera is a good team. We did what we did best, and our defense kept us in the game. We ended up third and Hanna the district champs. Rivera needed to win straight out against us to be co-champions, so they were not very happy. But that’s just the way it happens sometimes.”
The Chiefs await their postseason opponent, taking on the second-place team from District 31-6A, which finishes league play next week.
DISTRICT 31-6A
EDINBURG HIGH 2, EDINBURG NORTH 1: At Edinburg, Cristian Castillo scored the go-ahead goal with 10 minutes remaining to avenge the Bobcats’ early season loss to the Cougars.
Adrian Taboada opened the scoring for the Bobcats during the first half, giving them a 1-0 advantage at the break. The Cougars battled back, tying the game midway through the second half, before Castillo netted the game winner.
The victory keeps the Bobcats tied for first with the La Joya Juarez-Lincoln Huskies, each holding 36 points after Friday’s action. The Cougars fall to 8-2-4 on the year, sitting in third with two games remaining.
LA JOYA JUAREZ-LINCOLN 2, PSJA NORTH 0: At Pharr, Justin Puente scored a goal during each half, leading the Huskies to their fifth straight district victory.
The Huskies move to 12-2-0 on the year, sitting tied for first with Edinburg High for first place in the district. Juarez-Lincoln will seek to take sole possession of first place next week, with the Bobcats on a bye.
La Joya Juarez-Lincoln takes on intracity rival La Joya High at 6 p.m. Tuesday at La Joya ISD stadium.
DISTRICT 31-5A
PSJA SOUTHWEST 3, VALLEY VIEW 0: At Pharr, the Javelinas scored two second-half goals to secure a win over the Tigers, handing Valley View its first district loss of the season.
Yahir Peña and Eduardo Garza netted PSJA Southwest’s goals during the second half, with Addin Vela opening the scoring for the Javelinas.