By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL – Jubilee Brownsville likes to play fast and aggressive under coach Robert Coronado.
The Titans exhibited those tendencies and plenty of skill in route to a 3-0 road win over Port Isabel on Tuesday night.
Jubilee scored all three of its goals in the first half, two of which came on penalty kicks.
Eduardo de Ledesma took a free kick from the edge of the box at the 38-minute mark and Diego Araujo took the first corner kick of the game for Jubilee. Araujo skipped the ball into the ground toward a cluster of players in front of the net, but it was cleared away.
Port Isabel took its first corner kick with 36 minutes to play in the first half.
Luis Gonzalez’s clean shot from the top of the box hooked to the right of the goalpost was the closest the Tarpons came to scoring in the first half with 16 minutes remaining.
Araujo’s 25-yard free kick bounced into the arms of the Port Isabel goalie with less than 12 minutes to go, about 15 seconds later, Kevin Ramirez snuck in past the defense and blasted home a low line drive to put the visitors ahead 1-0.
“(Ramirez’s goal) was a team play,” Coronado said. “So I’m pretty proud of that. … I want to have that kind of pace throughout the season, that’s what I’m looking for.”
About a minute later, Port Isabel’s Brayan Medina had a 1-on-1 chance with Jubilee goalie Eduardo Martin, but Medina’s low shot missed just wide of the post.
“Unfortunately we were not able to put it on target,” second-year Port Isabel coach Josh Kirton said of Medina’s scoring chance. “Next thing you know, it’s 3-0 because we (didn’t) take care of our our opportunities and they capitalized on theirs.”
Coronado said he thought the Titans were shaky defensively for the first 15 to 20 minutes of the first half.
“We learned from it, we made some changes, and we got better,” Coronado said of his team’s response in the second half.
Fabian Covarrubias scored on a penalty kick to double the Jubilee lead with 8:23 left in the period.
Gonzalez converted on his penalty kick, squeaking the ball past Juan Martinez, the Port Isabel goalkeeper.
Martinez’s dive toward the ball in the lower right corner was an accurate but late guess, boosting the Titans’ advantage to 3-0 with three and a half minutes to play in the first half.
Yellow cards were issued to Port Isabel’s Medina and Jefferson Nieto and de Ledesma of Jubilee.
“(Jubilee) just wanted it a little bit more than us tonight,” Kirton said. “They worked harder. Hats off to them, they played a great game. We didn’t really show up to play tonight.”
Next up: The Tarpons are slated to face Monte Alto and the Titans are scheduled to play Brownsville IDEA Frontier. Both games are set to kick off at 6 p.m. Friday from Brownsville Sports Park.