Win or lose in El Paso this weekend, the Laredo Heat will still hold second place in the Mid-South Division. The question is will Javier McDonald’s Patriots be joining them.
The Border Battle heats up again at Patriot Stadium between El Paso (3-4-3, 12 points), in a three-way tie for third place, and the defending champions of the Premier Development League, the Laredo Heat (5-1-3, 18 points), all alone in second behind the Austin Aztex.
For both these teams, Friday’s and Saturday’s matches represent a possible 12-point swing at a critical time of the season. Interim head coach Javier McDonald saw what he wanted to see as his Patriots took four of a possible six points, leap-frogging DFW in the standings with a 1-1 tie and a 1-0 win.
Newly-signed Michael Griego accounted for both El Paso goals and Sebastián Narvaéz continued to impress with his fourth shutout of the season behind a stingy El Paso defense. John Crawley came in from the wing and anchored the central defense while team captain Hugo Sámano was suspended in Saturday’s shut-out win.
Now that McDonald has seen what his team can do he’ll match wits with head coach Israel Collazo, who, in three seasons, has molded the Heat into a perennial contender in the PDL. Laredo also made the 2006 league championship match, losing to the Michigan Bucks, before returning a year later and beating the Bucks in a title rematch.
Interestingly, the Patriots took the season series in Laredo’s championship season, going 2-1 against the Heat in 2007. Overall, El Paso leads the series, 6-4-0. Laredo’s first victory over the Patriots came in the 2006 season, the franchise’s second full summer in the PDL (the Heat played a provisional schedule in 2004).
Friday, families can take advantage of the Planet Fitness Family Four-Pack – four tickets, four Fuddruckers hot dogs and four sodas for only $30, plus the first 500 fans receive free tickets for a concert sponsored by Exa FM 98.3.
As always, a free youth clinic will be available for kids 12 and under before Saturday’s match from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m inside Patriot Stadium. Then, the first 300 fans will receive a free Sobe Life Water hat courtesy of Pepsi.
Tickets to both matches are available online at www.elpaso-patriots.com, at the Patriots offices (call 915.771.6620), as well as at International Soccer on Montana and at World Soccer on North Mesa.
Both matches will be available on the web, both live and archived at www.elpaso-patriots.com. KLAQ/KROD’s and MetroSports Southwest’s Duke Keith has the play-by-play.
