By STEFAN MODRICH, Staff Writer
The late Frank Robinson once said that “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”
In its District 32-5A showdown with Valley View, Brownsville Porter had several close calls that it couldn’t manage to convert in a 2-1 home loss Friday night.
The Cowboys (15-1-1, 2-1 32-5A) suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of the Tigers, but Porter outplayed the visitors and controlled possession for much of the first half.
“I thought it was a very good game for the fans,” Porter coach Jose Espitia said. “I thought it was very well-structured for us as coaches. It came to a point where whoever took care of their opportunities was going to win. We had our chances, they had theirs, unfortunately for us we didn’t take advantage of ours.”
Before Brandon Montes curled his penalty kick into the bottom right corner to put Cowboys ahead 1-0 at the 23:52 mark of the first half, Porter already had a pair of golden opportunities in the form of a wide open net for Rosendu Porter, who hooked his shot left of the goal, and another corner kick that set up Luis Romero for a point-blank chance with no one in front of him but Valley View goalkeeper Diego Cuellar.
Romero chipped the ball over the crossbar, and the Cowboys eventually came to rue the play and several more near-misses that followed.
A little more than two minutes after Montes scored, Pablo Torre knocked home a rebound from a Jorge Amaya long-range blast for the Valley View equalizer with 21:30 to play in the first half, sending the teams into the locker room deadlocked as the temperature began to drop and the tensions present in a physical game on both ends began to reach a boiling point.
“We knew what they were going to be looking for,” Espitia said. “We told our players just wait on (Amaya), and don’t let him get off on his left foot. And the first chance they got, he got a shot with his left foot.”
At the 29-minute mark of the second half, Cesar Arredondo was given a yellow card for pushing Cantu to the turf. One minute later, Porter’s Marco Casarez had open shot left of the goal from 20 yards out, and it sailed over the goal and out of bounds.
Espitia credited the Tigers for their ability to take the Cowboys out of their passing game and to continue to push the pace.
With 14 minutes to play, a Valley View corner kick from Amaya was the go-ahead assist for Christian Gonzalez, whose header resulted in the game-winning goal.
In all, four yellow cards were issued and each team was shown a red card, with the Cowboys playing a man short beginning at the 13-minute mark when Porter goalkeeper Isaac Acevedo was booked.
With 3:45 remaining, Cuellar was warned with a yellow card for time-wasting and then swiftly ejected for arguing with the referee, evening the sides to 10 players apiece.
With 30 seconds to go, Porter sent Acevedo on the attack for a last-ditch attempt to tie the game with its final corner, but the ball was cleared away by the Tigers.
Espitia acknowledged his team was at a size disadvantage against a bigger and more physical Valley View squad, but he added that he feels the Cowboys are equipped to overcome those challenges.
“If our goal is to win state, we have to overcome that,” Espitia said. (We need to) make our style of soccer — quickness, give-and-go, pass and move — we have to make it count on the field.
“You win games and you lose games, and you learn. Hopefully our kids are going to learn from it.”
Up next, Porter is home against rival Brownsville Lopez and Valley View plays host to Brownsville Veterans Memorial. Both games are set to start at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.