McALLEN — After his team’s dominant 49-7 defeat of Brownsville Lopez on the road, McAllen High head coach Patrick Shelby said that he plans to utilize a two-quarterback system moving forward based on the offense’s Week 1 performance.
Senior Robert Amador and sophomore Hunter Curl each saw meaningful playing time at the position against the Lobos.
Amador completed six of 10 passes for 153 yards and a pair of touchdowns — one from 65 yards out to receiver Felipe Magana and a 1- yard scoring pass to receiver Octavian Lewis. Curl threw for 23 yards on two of four passing and added 23 rushing yards on eight carries.
The two signal callers switched in and out for each other throughout Saturday’s game looking interchangeable at times. Amador appeared to be the more seasoned passer, while Curl showed he could throw and added a dual-threat, rushing dynamic to the position.
Shelby said he likes the variety the duo provides the Bulldogs in terms of play calling and offensive flexibility. McHi plans to continue to use Amador and Curl regularly throughout the season without committing to a definitive starter at the position.
MUSTANGS’ SPEIGHTS REACHES CAREER MILESTONE
McAllen Memorial senior running back Campbell Speights reached and surpassed a couple of career milestones in his team’s 42-40 win over Brownsville Hanna in Week 1. The four-year varsity starter ran for 267 yards on 22 carries and scored four touchdowns on the ground from 10, 51, 52 and 71 yards out.
His prolific performance running the ball against the Eagles pushed him over the 5,000-yard rushing mark for his high school tenure, reaching 5,240 career yards. Speights should easily eclipse the 6,000 career yardage mark and given his booming start to the year, could potentially reach the 7,000-yard threshold, as well.
His four rushing touchdowns pushed his career total touchdown count to 80 as well. The Mustangs’ star running back set a personal high-water mark as a junior last season with 30 total scores, 29 on the ground and one through the air.
Speights also registered his 29th career 100-yard rushing game and ninth in a row dating back to last season. He’s reached the 100-yard mark on the ground in 19 of Memorial’s last 20 games and will have a chance to etch his name in the state record book.
The senior would need 12 more 100-yard performances to enter a three-way tie for the third most such games in Texas high school football history with Cuero’s Robert Strait (1985-88) and Bangs’ Jacoby Jones (2001-03), who each tallied 41.
SHAKE-UPS COMING FOR PSJA HIGH OFFENSIVE LINE
PSJA High head coach Lupe Rodriguez said following his team’s 33-6 loss to Corpus Christi Flour Bluff on Thursday that some changes are coming along the team’s offensive line.
Consistency on the Bears’ offensive line appeared to be a big question mark for the offense in the team’s final scrimmage against Edinburg Vela and again proved to be problematic in the Week 1 loss to the Hornets.
The unit had trouble slowing a ferocious Flour Bluff pass rush that resulted in a number of incompletions and negative yardage. Senior quarterback Justin Morales was sacked eight times on the night and often had to roll out and make throw-away passes out of bounds in order to avoid defensive pressure.
The offensive line was also the main culprit for many of PSJA High’s costly penalties. A holding call pushed the Bears out of field goal range on one key drive and several false start and additional holding flags stalled promising drives.
Rodriguez said he made a switch at center mid-game against the Hornets, but added that the offensive line as a whole still needed more evaluation. He noted that changes would be made in the coming weeks possibly by shifting new players into starting roles, experimenting with existing starters in new positions along the o-line or a combination of the two approaches.