Valley View jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, cruising past Flour Bluff in a Class 5A area round playoff game on Friday at Valley View.
“We dominated the first half,” Valley View assistant coach Jerry Salazar said. “The second half, they played a little bit more aggressive, because they wanted to score. They put more forwards up, and they attacked a little more. We had the ball, I want to say about 70 percent of the game. We controlled the game almost all the time.”
Avi Garcia scored twice, with Jose Rodriguez and Damian Magallan Jr. also tallying for the Tigers. Valley View took a 2-0 lead into halftime, at which point Flour Bluff had yet to register a shot, Salazar said.
Valley View will face Brownsville Pace in the regional quarterfinals.
“Our midfielders did a great job controlling the ball and passing it,” Salazar said. “Our passing game was pretty good today. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but today it was pretty good passing, and the kids were focused all day.”
SHARYLAND HIGH 3, VICTORIA EAST 1: At Buc Stadium in Corpus Christi, Sharyland High found the back of the net three times in the opening half to score a win against Victoria East.
The Rattlers will face Brownsville Porter in the regional quarterfinals.
CLASS 4A
HIDALGO 2, KINGSVILLE KING 1, OT: At San Benito, Hidalgo broke through to net a game-winning goal in overtime after a scoreless second half.
Hidalgo will face Port Isabel in the regional quarterfinals.
GIRLS
CLASS 6A
DEL RIO 1, EDINBURG ECOMOMEDES 0: At Gustafson Stadium in San Antonio, Economedes was shut down by Del Rio in a season-ending loss.
CLASS 5A
SHARYLAND HIGH 5, FLOUR BLUFF 4, OT: At Shirley Field in Laredo, Sharyland High allowed two goals in the final 5 minutes to force overtime, but then came through in the extra period to pull out the win.
Isabella Marinaro scored four times in regulation for the Lady Rattlers before Kaitie Watson netted the game winner during the second 10-minute overtime period.
“It was a through ball, and she got a run, and she beat the defense, and she had a one on one with the goalie,” Sharyland High coach Aaron Clemons said. “The goalie came out, and as soon as that goalie made a move she took a shot at the ball and put it right through, right in the goal, nice and easy.”
Both teams tried to make the most of the wind whenever it was at their backs, Clemons said.
After Flour Bluff rallied to tie the game, Clemons said he had to talk to the Lady Rattlers about staying focused and keeping their heads up.
“The girls, they fought through,” Clemons said. “They kept on fighting, and I knew that our conditioning was going to kick in. During the second half, sure enough, the girls conditioning kicked in, and we were able to do what we had to do to come away with that win.”
GREGORY-PORTLAND 3, PSJA SOUTHWEST 0: At Alice, Gregory-Portland ended PSJA Southwest’s season.
SHARYLAND PIONEER 1, VICTORIA EAST 0: At Buc Stadium in Corpus Christi, Nikki Cuellar scored a header in the final 10 minutes off a corner kick by Hannah Padilla to lift Pioneer past Victoria East.
Pioneer will face Corpus Christi Veterans in the regional quarterfinals at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi.
“We put a lot of pressure, especially in the second half when we had a strong wind behind our back,” Pioneer coach J.J. Lopez said. “We knew it was just a matter of time before we put one in. We had some real good missed opportunities, but towards the end we knew all it was going to take was one. And we got it in.”
Lopez said Pioneer was able to keep Victoria East off the board by using its speed and pressure to close gaps against a group of dangerous forwards.
“The game plan was to keep it away from them, and we did that for the most part,” Lopez said.
CLASS 4A
KINGSVILLE KING 2, HIDLAGO 0: At San Benito, Kingsville King shut out Hidalgo to end the Lady Pirates season.