By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
For the Rivera Raiders in soccer, it’s always about a bigger prize.
The Raiders captured the District 32-6A championship with a 4-1 victory against Harlingen South on Monday afternoon at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Rivera completed district play with a 13-1 record and 38 points to edge out runner-up Hanna with a 12-2 record and 36 points. The Golden Eagles defeated Weslaco East 5-3 in overtime Monday and would have captured the 32-6A crown had Rivera lost.
Even though they had just become district champions, there was little, if any, celebrating going on among the Rivera players and coaches following their victory against the Hawks (5-9, 15 points). The loss knocked South out of playoff contention.
For quite some time now, the goal for the Raiders and other Brownsville boys teams is always to go beyond district and make it to the UIL state tournament with the intent of bringing home a state title.
That explains why there was little or no celebrating by the Raiders at Sams on Monday.
“It feels normal (to win district),” said Rivera’s Julian Espinoza, a senior midfielder and team captain who scored a pair of goals during Monday’s 4-1 win. “That’s really not our objective. Our objectives are a lot higher. It’s nice, but it’s not our main goal.”
After trailing 1-0, the Raiders found themselves tied with the Hawks 1-1 at intermission before going ahead early in the second half and cruising to the victory.
“A district title is a district title, and yeah, we’ll take it,” Rivera coach Salvador Garcia said. “Like I said before, a district title is not our (primary) objective.”
Garcia said his team played better during the final 40 minutes after a so-so first half.
“I told the players (at halftime) we always have to be ready to play (well),” he said. “I told them that playing the way we were playing in the first half is a (sure) sign we’ll be staying home (after one round of the playoffs).
“I don’t know whether it was because of spring break or what, but the first half I thought we were just jogging,” he added. “In the playoffs, you’ve got to fight hard for every 50-50 ball from the very beginning of the game. We’ll see how we react in the playoffs.”
Things were looking pretty good for the Hawks when Jose Lerma scored into an open net to give his team a 1-0 lead during the ninth minute.
But the next four goals were all scored by Rivera, including three in the second half.
“We ran out of gas,” South coach Julian Robles said. “We needed more subs. It just didn’t work out for us (this year). There were too many opportunities (to win) we didn’t take advantage of earlier in the season (that could have put us in a better position to make the playoffs).”
Rivera tallied its initial goal just a minute and a half before intermission when the ball came to Roberto Melendez on a long free kick from midfield and he put it into the net from close range.
The next two goals for the Raiders were tallied by Espinoza, including a picture-perfect score that put Rivera ahead 2-1. The goals came during the 52nd and 60th minutes.
Espinoza’s first goal came when a teammate sent a short pass to him off a corner kick taken from the left side. Espinoza dribbled once or twice before quickly launching the ball toward the goal on an arc from about 20 yards away. The well-placed shot from the left side sailed over the goalkeeper and landed in the right corner of the net for a 2-1 lead.
Espinoza brought the ball down the middle and scored from about 15 yards away in the 60th minute to up his team’s advantage to 3-1.
The final Rivera goal came during the 71st minute and was scored by freshman reserve Jamin Muniz. The ball came to Muniz in the goalmouth and he appeared to nudge it in with his chest from close range to increase the score to 4-1.
The Raiders are expected to play either Edinburg North or Edinburg High from District 31-6A when the bi-district playoffs begin March 28-29.
Meanwhile, the early game of Monday’s 32-6A doubleheader at Sams saw the South girls shut out the Rivera girls 4-0 thanks to four second-half goals by Mellory Grannum, a junior midfielder/forward.
Both the Lady Hawks and Lady Raiders are advancing to the playoffs. The South girls (10-4, 33 points) will be the district’s No. 2 playoff seed after tying with No. 3 seed Harlingen High (11-3, 33 points) in the 32-6A standings.
The two schools’ coaches had a coin flip after their games Monday to determine their teams’ postseason seedings.
The Los Fresnos girls (12-2, 35 points) repeated as 32-6A champions with a 4-0 win at home Monday against Weslaco High. The Lady Raiders (9-5, 25 points) are 32-6A’s fourth-place team.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess