SANGRE!!!

You had to be there. You simply had to be there. Comparing their spectacular regional championship in which the Rivera Raiders posted identical 3-1 scores with their conquest of the Texas state soccer title would be akin to comparing a first kiss with that first night as a married couple.

Rivera's performance was scintillating. It brought the season to a climax that Hollywood could not equal.

After dispatching North Mesquite with a 5-1 thumping Friday night, the Raiders returned to the pitch Saturday night. Under threatening skies, Brownsville's best tallied two early goals and dominated a rugged Katy Cinco Ranch, 2-0.

With this triumph, Rivera capped off a perfect 28-0 record and the newly crowned champs hosted their trophy high in the air. This is the first year of the 6A division. Rivera will go into annuals of history as that dream team that never suffered a defeat and set a standard for excellence that future elevens will be hard-pressed to surpass.

Juan de Dios Garcia, Brownsville High's celebrated coach who belongs in the RGV Hall of Fame,  remarked during his illustrious 30-year career at the Eagles helm that Salvador Garcia was his greatest player. The Raider mentor may reign one day as not only Brownsville's greatest soccer coach, but Brownsville's greatest coach.

"Over the last two weekends Rivera beat four of the finest Texas squads by a combined score of 13-3," said Max Maxwell, dean of the RGV sportswriters. "It could have easily been 30-3 the Raiders were so dominant.

"Beyond the victories, it is the elegance with which Garcia and his charges exhibit their consummate talents. With their pin-point passing, their aggressive focus on the ball, their clean style, their no-nonsense intensity free of the theatrics of feigned injuries and the accompanying writhing, they have taken soccer to a transcendent level aesthetically.

"Rivera Raider futbol is art in action. Their combination of discipline and creativity has produced a state champion that will be remembered with a deep pride for ages."

I had the privilege of taking Brownsville's first team to state. They were scrappy kids from the Southmost who because of their ties to Matamoros and Mexico were marginalized at Porter by the mainstream students. The Anglo head football coaches, who were compiling such impressive feats like 47-game losing streaks, expressed nothing but scorn for these youngsters. The football establishment, like a decaying dictatorship, reigned, but the pot-bellied crackers considered soccer a revolution that threatened their unquestioned power. This attitude changed through the years with a succession of championships. As to the players' status among their peers, Freddy Villarreal, the Raiders' outstanding defensive mid, is the student body president.

The year was 1983. In an old, yellow school bus my boys and I traveled to the state capital to participate in the Final Four. Austin was a new and intimidating experience for these players who in many cases had never ventured farther north than Los Fresnos.

The bright lights and metropolitan bustle discombobulated them. When they awoke the morning before their semi-final match, they walked out onto the balcony and were unhinged by the sprayed-painted message across their bus: "Mojados! Go home!!!"

At the conclusion of the game Saturday night the rain was coming down in sheets. We all went home mojados. We also went home state champs of Texas.

Sangre!!!