MISSION — After 80 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods, the Sharyland High Rattlers found themselves in familiar territory, heading into penalty kicks.
During district play the Rattlers went into penalty kicks six times, winning five of those contests. Sharyland High took care of business once again, outscoring the Brownsville Lopez Lobos 4-2 during the shootout to come out on top during their Region IV-5A bi-district contest Friday at Richard Thompson Stadium.
“It’s actually something we try to avoid,” Sharyland High head coach Jorge Guerra said. “It’s a coin in the air because it can go either way. It’s very stressful. I don’t know if we’ve become a little better at them since we’ve had so many games like that, but it’s not something we go looking for. … Lopez did their game and hats off to them. I kept telling our guys in overtime for us to not go to PKs and keep looking to win. We had some chances, but it just didn’t happen. Then PKs came along and they saved us again.”
The Rattlers advance to the Region IV-5A area round for a second straight year, taking on Rio Grande City at a date, time and location to be determined.
Sharyland High goalkeeper Marte De Alejandro came up with a diving save on the Lobos’ first penalty attempt to put the Rattlers in control of the result. After another missed shot by the Lobos, Rattlers forward Juan Pablo Treviño lined up for the go-ahead score, putting the ball into the top of the net for the win.
“You just have to keep calm,” de Alejandro said. “You can’t panic. If you guess the right way, you have a chance to save it. I practice with my coach. The team practices PKs after practice all the time. The experience of the other six or seven games we’ve had in penalties, I got the hang of it. And, well, I just made some saves.”
The Rattlers took an early 1-0 lead over the Lobos during the first half, with midfielder Eliud Villarreal lobbying a shot over the goalkeeper for the score.
The Lobos tied the game three minutes into the second period on a goal from striker Juan Jaramillo.
The Rattlers nearly took the lead with five minutes remaining, with Iker Ureta finding the back of the net, but the shot was called back on an offsides violation.
The two teams remained scoreless through the two overtime periods, with the Rattlers going 4-of-4 on their penalty kick attempts to punch their ticket to the second round.
The victory marks the first during the playoffs for the first-year head coach, while being the only District 31-5A team to pick up a victory during the bi-district round over District 32-5A this year.
“Every first round of playoffs, it’s always a big challenge from the first seed to the fourth seed,” Guerra said. “Brownsville is a soccer district over there. They have tremendous athletes and coaches over there. Just to come out on top first round, it’s very satisfying and very rewarding. I’m just very happy for the team and looking forward to the second round.”
