T.J. GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
McALLEN – The San Antonio Southwest Dragons rallied to score three second-half goals in regulation and then shutout La Joya in overtime and in penalty kicks to beat the Coyotes 4-3 (3-0) Thursday night at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The Class 6A bi-district defeat ended an otherwise successful season for the 14-12-1 Coyotes, and they played well enough to win in most of the match by dictating pace, controlling possession and making chances for themselves.
La Joya also scored two goals early in the second half on fine efforts by senior Edgar Palomares and junior Joel Garcia at the 35th and 31st minutes. But its defense finally gave way and allowed the Dragons to score a trifecta of goals in the last 20 minutes of the second half including the final one as the regulation buzzer sounded to equalize the game at three.
“We watched video, we knew what to expect . We have a back four that did a decent job,” said La Joya Coach Alexandro Davila. “Their goals came out of our tired legs. Again credit to them, it was their pressure and we couldnt handle it.”
The La Joya defense was mostly impenetrable and did yoeman’s work to shut down Southwest’s freshman phenom Jathan Juarez, who entered the game with 37 goals. He did not score Thursday, but he created several chances and served some great balls into the box late in the contest.
Still, it wasn’t enough as Southwest came back to tie game and force OT and then penalty kicks. And in PKs, the Coyotes had no juice. They either whiffed or were shut down by Dragons goalie Rolando Barco in their first three attempts.
Meanwhile, for Southwest, first man up Juarez was blocked by LJ goalkeeper Andre Ramirez and it was even 0-0 after the first attempts. But after that it was all Southwest as its kickers hit the next three in a row to claim the victory once and for all.
Davila said taking the loss was tough to swallow, but he was very proud of the team’s effort and knows the underclassman will learn from it moving forward to next year.