The Mansfield Legacy Broncos knew they were in for a physical match against Irving. And with roughly a dozen yellow cards issued between the teams, it was easy to see why.  Legacy didn’t let it get the best of them, as they upended Irving 2-1 Tuesday in Class 5A bi-district action at the Gopher Bowl.

Legacy now moves on to the area round against the winner of Keller and Allen. Legacy got the early lead thanks to some impressive head games. Following a Bronco corner kick that popped into the air, Andrew Ojeda used his head to find open teammate Andrew Bach, who then used his head to put it in net for a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the game.

"Ojeda’s ability to see the field is just amazing, and he saw that I was wide open and I just stuck it in," Bach said. "It was a great start to the game. We needed that."

For the next 67 minutes, the two teams racked up the yellow cards in a period of scoreless play. It was physical, and it was tough.

"We had heard from physical teams in our district that Irving was a little dirty and very physical," Bach said. "So we said, alright, if they are saying that Irving is a physical team, we knew we had to step up our level of play."

Legacy would take a 2-0 lead with about six minutes remaining on a Nathaniel Martinez breakaway goal.  Irving would make it a one-goal deficit with 46 seconds remaining on a Jesus Angeles score, but it was too little too late as the Legacy defense did what it does best: get stops.

"Really, that last goal, I switched up our defensive shape so it didn’t bother me that we gave up that goal," said Legacy coach Aaron Cottrell. "I was very pleased with our defensive effort, it’s been our strength all season."

Legacy goalie Blake Brown was immaculate throughout the evening, getting stops before giving up the goal on a big rush from Irving.

"We knew they would push it, and Blake got the big stops at the end when it counted," Cottrell said.