By RGVFútbol/Staff

HIDALGO, 21 Jan. - The Lower Río Grande Valley is getting to like the Hidalgo-Valley View Copa Frontera Tournament. Brownsville Rivera won its second straight border tournament title Saturday after defeating Los Fresnos 2-1 at Hidalgo’s Bill Pate Stadium in the second all-District 32-5A championship game in two years.

Rivera’s victory was the third time in five years that a team from the Lower Río Grande Valley has won the tournament and it was the second straight year that two teams from the Lower Valley play for the championship.

Defense was key to Rivera’s perfect tournament. The Raiders racked up an undefeated 9-0-0 mark en route to the title of the ninth edition of the Hidalgo-Valley View Tournament. The defense allowed only two goals in nine matches during the three-day soccer marathon.

"We’ve been improving little by little. It was a good experience for the kids," said Rivera head coach Salvador Rivera. "Last week (at Brownsville Tournament) we played decent. In general, we played well. Before starting the tournaments, the unknown was our defense since we lost everyone from last year so the defense is totally different."

"We had some problems during our scrimmages against Sharyland and later with McAllen and McAllen Memorial, but little by little our kids have been adapting to what we want," added García. "Last week in our eight games at Brownsville we only had two goals scored against us, and in these games they only scored two goals. Defensively we’re ready for whatever comes our way, and the most important thing is district which starts Tuesday."

The Raiders are not doing too bad offensively either, which is what they are most known for. Rivera scored 27 goals in the nine Copa Frontera tournament matches. The Brownsville squad won Group 2 and defeated PSJA Memorial 1-0 in the semifinals at Valley View’s Tiger Stadium.

Rivera’s Isidro “Chelín” Martínez scored the game-winning goals against Los Fresnos and tallied 10 goals in the tournament overall. Martínez scored in the 9th and 42nd minutes of the title game. Jonathan Valdéz equalized for the Falcons with a penalty kick in the 24th minute to knot the game at 1-1.

"It feels good for the long road we had to go through in the tournament," said Martínez. "This was due to the effort of all the players on the team. I’m happy, but we have a long road to go starting on Tuesday. We just have to keep moving forward, stay humble, and see what He gives us."

Martínez opened the scoring in the 9th minute when he came down the left side of the field and fired a cross shot that found the second post to give Rivera a 1-0 lead.

With six minutes remaining in the half, Los Fresnos playmaker Valdéz was taken down in the box and drew a penalty from the boys in stripes. Valdéz converted the PK to equalize the match and take a 1-all tie to halftime.

Despite the Falcons’ attempts to hold the Raiders at bay, the quickness and offensive power of Rivera eventually found its mark when Martínez flied down the right side and fired a shot to the far post that found the back of the net for the second time in the game in the 42nd minute, and gave the Raiders their second straight Copa Frontera championship.

Although Los Fresnos lost the final, it was the best finish for the Falcons at the Copa Frontera Tournament in six appearances. The Falcons won Group 1 and defeated a scrappy PSJA Southwest squad 2-1 in the semifinals to advance to the championship match.

"We’ve been coming to this tournament for six years and this is the farthest we’ve ever gotten," said Los Fresnos head coach Javier Navarrete. "We fought against one of our rivals and it’s always exciting to get to see one of opponents before our time, and we‘ve got a little bit of home work to do and go back to the drawing board, make some adjustments and we’ll come out and see them next Friday."

In the battle for third place, PSJA Memorial outlasted tri-city rival PSJA Southwest 1-0 on a 21st minute goal by Abdiel Perales.