GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — If there were any questions about the strength of McAllen Memorial after last week’s four-point win against La Joya High, the Mustangs did their best to put them to rest on Friday.
A career-high tying five touchdowns from Trevor Speights highlighted a dominant all-around performance as Memorial trounced McAllen Rowe 58-19 at McAllen Memorial Stadium.
“I guess because of last week’s close game, we lost a lot of believers,” Speights said. “We had to get the believers back, and get the doubters to jump on board. … It was an offensive and defensive beatdown. All phases were there. Passing, rushing, special teams, everything was there. We did our job, and the scoreboard showed it.”
The win moves Memorial to 2-0 in District 30-6A, tying the Mustangs with McAllen High atop the district standings. Rowe drops to 1-1.
As was widely projected before the season, the matchup between Memorial and McHi on Oct. 24 appears likely to decide the district race.
The Mustangs look as ready as ever, with Speights and coach Bill Littleton calling Friday’s offensive showing the team’s strongest yet.
“This is probably the best overall performance for the offense,” Littleton said. “We were clicking throwing the ball, running the ball. We pretty much did a good job in all phases.”
Rowe did everything it could to keep Speights bottled up, allowing only three carries of 10 yards or more in the first half. Unfortunately for the Warriors, all three of those went for scores, as Speights notched touchdowns of 60, 14 and 28 yards over the first 24 minutes.
He touched the ball only twice in the second half and scored on both plays: runs of 24 and 42 yards.
Speights finished the game with 17 carries for 220 yards and five scores. His only previous game with five touchdowns came last season in a 63-56 loss to Weslaco East, when he racked up 300 yards on 23 carries.
“I just try to win the game,” Speights said. “I do whatever the team needs. They needed five touchdowns, so I gave them five touchdowns.”
For the year, Speights now has 1,525 yards and 18 touchdowns.
The Mustangs complimented Speights’ big night with five interceptions on defense. Michael Garza, Jesus Islas, John McGee, Ozzy Salazar and DJ Martinez all had picks for Memorial.
“It was great,” Garza said. “Last week we came out kind of slow. We’ve been slow. But this week we just exploded, and it felt great.”
WARRIORS QUARTERBACKS
Memorial gave Rowe quarterback Hector Bosquez fits in the passing game, as he finished 4-of-10 passing for 41 yards and three interceptions.
John Perez took the majority of the snaps for Rowe but also struggled, finishing 7-of-20 passing for 138 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Rowe coach Paul Reyes said the Warriors got the looks they were expecting from the Mustangs secondary and that receivers got open, but Bosquez and Perez failed to make the throws on time.
“I don’t have any answers for both Hector and John,” Reyes said. “I really don’t. We go over stuff. We look at film. We put them through the same things in practice, and they come out here and just, I don’t know, forget what we talked about and went over.
“I’m dumbfounded as to why they’re making those plays. But we just have to go back and find what we can do.”
MEMORIAL INJURY
McAllen Memorial quarterback Jonathan Sanchez did not dress out for Friday’s game due to injury.
He entered the week ranked second on the team in total offense, having run for 229 yards, thrown for 75 yards and caught two passes for 20 yards during Memorial’s first five games.
Littleton said he did not expect the injury to be a long-term issue.
PASSING GAME
McAllen Memorial continued to use the passing game only sparingly, attempting just eight passes in the win.
Quarterback Fabian Pedraza finished just 4-of-8 passing for 75 yards, including touchdown strikes of 24 and 48 yards to wide receiver DJ Johnson.
They were only the second and third catches of the season for Johnson, who missed the year’s first three games due to injury.