By NINO CARDENAS
LAREDO MORNING TIMES
You couldn’t ask for more drama on Wednesday night at the Texas A&M International Soccer complex as the Laredo Heat fought the El Paso Patriots for the right to take the driver’s seat for the 2008 Premier Development League playoffs.
In the end, after falling behind, the Heat stormed back and defeated its rivals 3-1, and as a reward took over second place of the Mid-South Division, before a frenzied crowd of 1,125.
The Heat (7-4-4, 25 points) need a win against New Orleans on Saturday and then it’ll be on its way to defending its championship.
The Patriots (7-5-3, 24) need a Heat tie and a victory over the Aztex in El Paso to claim the second and final berth.
In a classic example of saving the best for last, the Heat’s constant barrage and relentless attack finally broke through the Patriots defense and goal keeper Sebastian Narvaez.
El Paso tok a 1-0 lead in the 57th minute when Michael Giego got in front of Heat goalie Jorge Muniz for a header, despite being outplayed by the hometown club.
Instead of deflating the Heat’s offense, the club kept on adding up the shots on goal before Isaac Morales took center stage when he evened the score in the 72nd minute on a beautifully taken left-footed free kick that he curved from 33 yards out to the far post.
Morales wasn’t done yet, as a tie still gave the Patriots the advantage for a playoff bid.
In the 84th minute, Morales and fellow lefty Felix Garcia broke through down the left side.
Morales fed Garcia who worked his way down the box, baited the goalie and kicked in the go-ahead goal.
“We just never gave up,” Garcia said in spanish. “This team is humble, we knew the time would come and in the end we got the result we wanted.
“I had faith that the team was going to come out on top, and as I’ve said before, if it wasn’t because of the support of my teammates, I would never have gotten the chances to score goals.”
Theo Browne added the cushion in extra time to cap the scoring.
Both clubs knew what was at stake and what needed to be done.
The Heat provided the offense, outshooting the Pats 25-6, while the Patriots flooded the backfield and surprised Laredo with their one goal.
Down 1-0 late in the second half, it looked as if the Heat’s inability to capitalize on goal was still rearing its ugly head.
Not helping much was the handful of great saves by Narvaez.
In the 49th minute, the Patriots had a goal disallowed due to the player being called for hand on ball, allowing the fans to exale in relief.
After Morales scored the equalizer, the team went into overdrive and kept applying pressure on the Pats’ defense and goalie.
Morales again came into the picture with another flashy display of ball control in which he shook off two more defenders before having his top bar shot barely saved by Narvaez for a corner.
Morales got under the Patriots skin and was taken down inside the box in the 79th minute on a no-call by the referee.
Then came an unbelievable series of events in the 80th when Morales sent a corner into the box, where the ball bounced wildly in the area as a scrum formed. With the goalie out of the way ,the Patriots defneders somehow managed to block several shots and clear the ball.
That would’ve been the cherry on the cake if it wasn’t for Morales’ and Garcia’s effort four minutes later.
Garcia made his presence felt early in the contest as he collected five shots in the first half alone.
HEAT NOTES: Goalie Ryan Cooper arrived late Wednesday and Collazo decided to go with Muniz. Also, Captain Daniel Galva was amongst those cut earlier in the week. Galva is nursing a knee injury that didn’t appear to be getting better anytime soon.
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