BY KEVIN LU | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
ELSA — Edcouch-Elsa used some big plays to beat PSJA Southwest 33-21 at Benny Layton Sr. Memorial Stadium on Friday night.
Edcouch-Elsa (5-3 overall, 4-1 District 32-5A) looked to be in for a long night early on, as PSJA Southwest scored on its opening possession and the Yellowjackets’ offense fumbled the ball away twice in its own territory to start the game.
But the Yellowjackets defense held strong, forcing a turnover on downs twice inside the red zone and keeping the Javelinas (5-3, 3-2) from putting them in a big early hole.
“We came out a little flat, had a couple of hiccups, but give it to our guys to show a lot of resiliency,” Edcouch-Elsa coach Joe Marichalar said. “Defensively I think we played well … we’ve got to clean up those little things if we expect to do great things.”
After the Yellowjackets defense got the ball back, the offense finally hit the gas pedal. It needed five plays to go 91 yards, helped by a 66-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Marco Aguinaga to receiver Andrew Segura to tie the game at 7.
“Those two guys are playmakers,” Marichalar said of Segura and Aguinaga. “Whenever the moment gets to them, they rise to the occasion. It’s a great one-two combo. We’ve got to get them going early and we did tonight.”
On the ensuing possession, Edcouch-Elsa junior Victor Valdez intercepted the first of his two passes. Aguinaga then found Chon Hernandez for a 23-yard touchdown to give the Yellowjackets a 13-7 lead.
Both teams traded scores before halftime and Edcouch-Elsa took a 19-14 lead into the break.
It stayed that way until the fourth quarter. That’s when Aguinaga connected with Hernandez for their second score, a 22-yard pass where Hernandez got behind double-coverage. That completed a 10-play, 97-yard drive and gave Edcouch-Elsa a 26-14 lead.
The Javelinas pulled within 26-21 before Segura took an end-around 54 yards for the score. It gave the game its final score. Segura had a team-high 75 yards rushing and 75 yards receiving to go with his two touchdowns.
Jesus Acosta, the district’s leading rusher, had a game-high 80 yards rushing and a touchdown for PSJA Southwest.