By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Lopez offense moved the chains but didn’t have anything to show for it during the first half.
Harlingen South took advantage of good field position, scored two rushing touchdowns and defeated the Lobos 35-0 in District 32-6A action Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The Lobos had the opportunities on offense but didn’t convert drives into points. Lopez missed two field goals and threw an interception on another drive to end the first half.
“They capitalized on the mistakes we made, and we didn’t capitalize on the mistakes they made,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said. “That’s what it really comes down to.”
The Hawks made the most of their opportunities, Alec Garza broke free for a 29-yard touchdown run during the first quarter, and Javier Olvera found a hole in the Lobos defense for 39 yards and another score in the second quarter to give Harlingen South a 14-0 lead at halftime.
“Lopez and Coach Starkey had a good game plan against us,” South coach Lanny Wilson said. “But we hung in there. We had a lot of penalties, a lot of drop passes, a lot of the things we didn’t do well was because of Lopez.”
Wilson said the adjustments they made on offense were key for the Hawks.
“We’ll come to the game and see how they’re playing us defensively,” he said. “They did some things different than we’ve seen on tape. We took what they were giving us, and at the end of the day in this district, a win is a win.”
The Lobos had 151 yards of offense during the first half but squandered the opportunities they had. Ulysses Ortegon recovered a fumble for the Lopez defense, but the offense stalled and was forced to punt. The Lobos’ other drives ended by failing to convert a fourth down twice, a few punts and an interception during their best drive at the end of the first half.
The second half didn’t get better for the Lobos.
Lopez (0-5, 0-2) had three more turnovers during the second half — two fumbles and an interception.
And the Hawks once again took advantage of the Lobos’ miscues. One fumble was made on a play going for a sure touchdown and went out of the back of the end zone, giving the ball back to Harlingen South (2-3, 1-1). The other fumble was on a kickoff return that the Hawks turned into another touchdown.
Bobby Castro scored a touchdown on an 18-yard run to end the third quarter to give South a 21-0 lead.
During the fourth quarter, Darren Perez returned a punt 70 yards for another score and, a few minutes later, South posted a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jimmy Morton.
Starkey said if the Lobos had fewer mistakes, the game could have played out differently.
“The score doesn’t reflect how close the game really was,” he said. “We had every chance to beat them, but we couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities that were there tonight.”
Wilson was happy to get the victory to gain some momentum.
“A win is always a good thing,” he said. “It gives us some confidence. We make mistakes whether we win or lose, so we can always be better the following week, and we have some tough teams coming up.”
Despite a winless start to the season, Starkey was upbeat about the potential his team has shown.
“I’m proud of our kids, they keep fighting,” he said. “I’m not going to take my foot off the gas, I’m going to continue to coach until the last whistle blows, as will the other 13 coaches on the staff.
“We’re going to learn from this and move forward. The opponents don’t get any easier in this district.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.