In the second game of a two-game home-stand, Mississippi Brilla avenged the 2-1 defeat handed to them by the Laredo Heat just two days before. Brilla had their foot on the pedal from the opening whistle while it appeared the Heat were content to sit in and defend as a draw would suit them just fine after already securing three points from their first match.
The Laredo tactics worked for the first half. Despite taking nine shots in the first 45 minutes, Brilla was unable to put one behind Laredo goalkeeper, Jorge Ortega.
The fortunes would change after the interval. Brilla was able to find the back of the net in the 52nd minute when Carlos Garces knocked in a rebound from a Sergio Royo shot. Royo was apparently just getting started filling the stat sheet as he would be involved in the next two Brilla goals as well.
Royo was the provider again in the 56th minute when he picked out Kellen Gulley with his corner kick. Gulley headed the pass home from six yards out to make the score 2-0.
Sergio Royo would score a goal of his own in the 63rd minute when he was taken down in the penalty area by Ortega. Royo stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick and stuck it into the corner of the net to stretch the lead to 3-0.
Kellen Gulley would wait only five more minutes before completing the rout with his backheel finish from a tremendous assist from Macauley King in the 68th.
Despite the blowout, the game was very hotly contested. On more than one occasion the teams were engaged in pushing and shoving after hard fouls. Over the course of the match, Brilla players were shown four yellow cards and Laredo saw three cautions.
It boiled over in the 80th minute when Laredo’s Alan Reyna charged the referee after teammate Jesus Cortes was shown a caution for a foul. Reyna was quickly shown a red card and sent off for his infraction.
The win moves Brilla into second place in the Mid-South Division with the same number of points as the Heat, but Brilla has the tie-breaking advantages of more goals scored and fewer allowed.
Brilla now goes on the road to Birmingham for a non-PDL exhibition to play the second part of a home and away series with the Hammers on June 13.
The Mississippi team will return home and return to PDL play when they host the Houston Dutch Lions for a two-game series on June 18 & 20. Both matches will be at Clinton High School with 7:00 PM kickoffs.