2009 All-Valley Soccer: Arney, Pedroza share girls coaching honors

Pat Arney of McAllen High and Omar Pedroza of Harlingen South have been friendly rivals for more than a decade and have guided the Rio Grande Valley's most consistently successful girls high school soccer programs.

This season they again coached their teams to the Region IV-5A Tournament in San Antonio. No other Valley girls team made it that far in the 2009 playoffs.

For their efforts, Pedroza and Arney are the 2009 All-Valley girls co-coaches of the year.

The Lady Hawks and Lady Bulldogs each captured their districts with a 13-1 record. South won District 31-5A title, while McHi took District 30-5A.

In the Class 5A regional semifinals at San Antonio's Blossom Athletic Center on April 3, McHi (24-7) suffered a 2-0 loss to eventual state tournament qualifier San Antonio Reagan, while South (27-4) was edged 2-1 by Austin Bowie.

"It's kind of nice to be honored with Coach Pedroza," said Arney, who has taken the Lady Bulldogs to the playoffs in each of his 13 seasons as their head coach. "I don't think there was a whole lot of difference between our teams this season. They were two great teams, the two best in the Valley in my opinion, so an honor like this is always nice to receive. It's a credit to our players."

Added Pedroza, whose Lady Hawks have made the playoffs in each of his 12 seasons as head coach, "Just like Coach Arney says, to me, this is a great honor. I always say that I'm blessed because I have quite a few talented girls, and that makes my job a lot easier. Sometimes it's just a matter of putting them in the right positions.

"We're doing the best that we can," he added. "I know Coach Arney feels the same way that I do as far as each of us wanting to be the first girls team from the Valley to make it to the next level. When we first started going up to San Antonio, it would be ugly. We'd lose 6-0 or 7-0. The last three times we've been up there, it's been 2-1. It's frustrating to get that far and lose. But to be honest, we're getting real close. I really believe that."

Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com.