By RGVFútbol/Staff

HIDALGO, 16 Feb. - Valley View co-captains Erick "Pini" Martínez and Reyes Espino scored three goals and José Ángel "Torito" notched a hat-trick Friday enroute to a 6-0 victory over Hidalgo in the Clásico at Bill Pate Stadium in a District 63-4A matchup.

Co-captain “Torito” Soto and Espino continue to recover from nagging injuries, but still played 60 minutes despite operating at only half-speed. Soto managed to score a hat-trick in the process for Valley View, which won its seventh consecutive Clásico against Hidalgo. The last time the Pirates defeated the Tigers in the Border Derby was in 2009.

"Hidalgo is always a tough team and a Clásico is always tough, but this time around the opportunities were on our side and it was reflected in the score," said Valley View head coach Damián Magallán. "The boys are responding well and working hard. To play a Clásico here you have to work hard and the boys showed displayed it on the field, which is what we wanted to see."

Since 2007, Valley View has the advantage in the Clásico series with an 8-2-3 record. The Tigers have scored 22 goals against the rival Pirates and only given up eight in 13 matches over a six-and-a-half year span.

Valley View remained undefeated with the win over Hidalgo and improved to 4-0 in district play with a 4-0 record for 12 points. The Tigers have a three-point lead over second-place PSJA Southwest (3-1, 9 points), who edged out Mercedes 4-3 in the other 63-4A match of the night.

With the loss, Hidalgo dropped to the 500 mark with a 2-2 record and six points. The Pirates are currently in third place of the five-team District 63-4A.

Tigers co-captain “Pini” Martínez opened up the scoring in the eighth minute of play and notched his second goal of the match 10 minutes later to give Valley View a 3-0 lead. Espino scored in the 12th minute.

"Torito" Soto found the back of the net for the first time in a while with three minutes left in the first half, and went on to add two more in the 44th and 51st minutes to complete a hat-trick.

"We’re doing our best, giving it our all, and I’m grateful mainly to the team because they’re the ones who put the passes for me to score," said "Pini" Martínez, who has scored five goals in the last two matches and seven in four district games.

"It was a good game, everyone worked well and evenly, touching the ball and doing what we’ve been taught to do, and we’re trying to show that we’re going after the championship," added Martínez.

Valley View’s head coach began to take some of his starters out of the match after going up 4-0 in the first half and played with his entire bench on the field for the last 16 minutes of the game.

"Since the first half when we went up 4-0 I started to take players out and with less than 20 minutes left I took out my forwards so they wouldn’t get injured more than they have been," said Magallán. "The kids are young, but they’re going to keep working hard. We did what we had to do tonight, and with the team at full strength, we’re going to give a good fight."

The Tigers have had players on and off the injured list all season long and the match against Hidalgo was the first time this season that Valley View had their full team on the field at one time. However, they still haven’t reached their optimum level of play. That should come along in the next few weeks during the second half of the 63-4A season that starts Tuesday, Feb. 19 against Mercedes.

"Thank God the kids have started to recover," said Magallán. "Now that we have the full team we’re going to come out ahead, but our objective is the State Tournament and we’re going to work hard to achieve it."

Valley View has held up despite their injured players thanks to the leadership that some of the players have recently display on and off the field.

"Some of our experienced players have started to shine, in this case our co-captains Reyes (Espino), 'Pini' (Martínez), and 'Toro' (Soto), and they’ve proved to the others of what we can do on the field," concluded Magallán.

In the boys junior varsity match, Hidalgo’s JV defeated Valley View 3-1.

At the girls Clásico played at Valley View’s Tiger Stadium, the Lady Tigers beat Hidalgo 2-0 on a goal by Lizeth Reyes and a penalty kick by Diana Tirado.