HARLINGEN — Harlingen High goalkeeper Juan Zapata made key saves down the stretch and the Cardinals held off the Los Fresnos Falcons 2-1 during their final game of the first round of district play Friday at Cardinal Stadium in Harlingen.
The victory moves Harlingen High to 4-1-0 after one round of league play, sitting in second behind Brownsville Rivera (5-0-0). The Falcons fall to 2-2-1 and sit in third in the table.
“We’re proud, but not satisfied,” Harlingen High head coach Joey Johnson said. “We can’t be too confident going into Round 2. I can easily remind them how our first game against Weslaco went. Or how we have a loss on our hands and were trailing in other games. There is a lot of things I can tell them to bring them down to earth, which is good. Those are the best games, the ones where we can take positives out of the negatives for the long turn.”
Rainy weather didn’t phase Zapata during the contest, looking comfortable between the posts from the get-go, coming up with two huge back-to-back saves during the 32nd minute to keep Los Fresnos off the board.
Zapata’s play inside the goal led to the Cardinals’ first score of the evening, with the senior captain sending a long ball to a streaking Jerry Martinez during the 37th minute for the go-ahead goal before the break.
“That’s my captain,” Johnson said. “He’s been my goalie since he was in seventh grade. I’ve known him a long time. He’s my guy and a leader on and off the field. Can’t say enough good things about him. We harped on in our meeting before the game about the conditions affecting nobody more than our goalie. Luckily, he did his thing and did what he had to do.”
The Cardinals extended their lead to 2-0 just six minutes into the second half off a set piece, with defender Ethan Hamby heading a crossing ball from Chris Cantu off a corner kick past the goalkeeper for the goal.
Trailing 2-0, the Falcons turned up the intensity, dominating the ball in search of their first goal of the night.
Los Fresnos’ score finally arrived during the 52nd minute, with Gio Barrientos putting the ball past Zapata to cut the Falcons deficit to one.
The Falcons wouldn’t score again, however, with Zapata and the Cardinals defense buckling down to secure the victory at home.
“We’re blessed to be where we’re at,” Johnson said. “We could very easily be 5-0. Our game versus Rivera last week was good as always. I have a lot of respect for coach (Salvador) Garcia over there. It feels like how we ended last year. We just need to carry it through into the second round of district, but it is good see us gelling at the right time and winning games that aren’t pretty all the time.”
The Cardinals get a week of rest before kicking off the second round of district play. They’ll take on Weslaco High (0-4-1) at 5:30 p.m. Friday to start Round 2. The Falcons hit the road to start the second round of district, taking on Brownsville Rivera at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
