BROWNSVILLE — Nobody outside of the Edinburg Economedes’ locker room expected the Jaguars to win during their Class 6A bi-district contest against Brownsville Rivera.
Many had the Raiders pegged as a state title contender after cruising to the District 32-6A title with a 9-1-0 mark. The Jaguars on the other hand hobbled into the postseason, earning the fourth and final playoff spot in District 31-6A during their regular season finale.
None of that mattered when the ball got rolling Monday, with the Jaguars going toe-to-toe wit the RGV heavyweights for 75 minutes before delivering the knockout blow on a goal by Armando Del Angel to stun the Raiders 2-1 at Rivera High School.
“I had told the kids from the very beginning that I kind of felt bad for them (Rivera),” Edinburg Economedes head coach Juan Rodriguez said. “We hadn’t been playing how we could have been played all season long, so they (Rivera) ended up drawing us. I think all week leading up to this we had good practice. We were able to put it together. You saw it today. We played a lot better than people outside expected. We told our kids before the game to not get on this bus if they didn’t believe we could win. They did and they came out and showed it.”
The Raiders looked like the dominant team coming out of the gate, controlling the possession and taking the ball deep into Jaguars’ territory on numerous drives.
Rivera’s relentless attack resulted in an early 1-0 lead for the Raiders, with Manuel Medina finding a loose ball inside the box and putting it past the goalkeeper during the seventh minute.
The Jaguars didn’t waver despite the 1-0 hole, evening the score with just 12 minutes remaining in the half on a goal by Jose Villarreal to send it into the break even at one.
The second half began like the first, with Rivera controlling possession and creating chances inside the Jaguars’ territory, but the Economedes defense held strong, keeping the Raiders off the board.
Their stout defense was almost rewarded midway during the second half, with Armando Del Angel misfiring on an open opportunity for the would-be go-ahead score.
Del Angel made up for the miscue, however, smashing a deflected ball into the right side of the net for the game-winning score.
“Scoring that goal felt really good,” Del Angel said. “There are times when you’re going to miss a shot. You can’t give up though. You have to keep pushing forward and it’ll come. After I missed that shot that was my mindset. I didn’t give up and kept pushing forward.”
The loss marks the first time since 2011 the Raiders are eliminated during the opening round of the playoffs, excluding the 2020 COVID-19 cancelled season and the 2021 campaign in which they missed the playoffs.
They finish the year with an 18-2-1 overall mark.
Meanwhile, the victory pushes the Jaguars past the first round for the first time since 2018. They’ll take on the winner between San Antonio Brennan and Laredo United South in the area round at a date, time and location to be determined.
“We told our kids from Day 1 that our goal was to get to the state tournament,” Rodriguez said. “That’s what they believe in. I keep telling them this is only the beginning. This is only the first one. We have a couple more to go. I just tell them to be ready and come every single day ready to get better because we’re not stopping. We’re going to try to go as deep as we can.”
