MIKE GONZALEZ | STAFF WRITER
MERCEDES — Brandon Gutierrez and Damien Ledesma are big pieces of Mercedes’ puzzle. They showed that Friday night in the Tigers’ biggest game of the year.
Each made huge plays to upend rival Edcouch-Elsa 22-19 at Tiger Stadium in Mercedes. It was the 63rd meeting between the two teams. The Tigers (6-1, 4-0 District 32-5A) broke a three-game losing streak in a series which the Yellowjackets (4-3, 3-1) had won 15 of the previous 18 matchups.
As a result, Mercedes stands alone in first place in the district with three games remaining.
Gutierrez, a receiver, set the tempo with a 92-yard touchdown on the game’s opening kickoff for a quick 7-0 lead. Mercedes recovered the ball on a pooch kick moments later, and two plays into that series senior quarterback Rene Presas found Gutierrez for a 41-yard touchdown and a 14-0 Mercedes lead 58 seconds into the game.
“There was so much adrenaline in my body, more than ever,” Gutierrez said. “It’s the best feeling because I was able to set the tone for my team.”
The Tigers controlled the tempo during the first half behind the strong arm of Presas as he zipped the ball to four different players. Just before the half, Mercedes booted a 26-yard field to go up 17-0, but because of an Edcouch-Elsa penalty, the Tigers were awarded a first down at the Yellowjacket 3.
Not long after, Presas punched it in from a yard out, and Roel Garcia added a highlight-reel 2-point conversion with a surging leap over an Edcouch-Elsa defender on a run to the outside and a 22-0 halftime advantage.
But the second half was Edcouch-Elsa’s.
On the opening possession, Christian Valdez capped a 75-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown run. On the next possession, sophomore quarterback Marco Aguinaga found Chon Hernandez on a 30-yard bomb to cut the margin to 22-12.
By then, the momentum had switched. Mercedes wasn’t able to do much offensively thanks to dropped balls and penalties. Early in the fourth quarter, Aguinaga finally was able to break a long one and outran Tiger defenders for a 38-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 3.
Mercedes had a golden opportunity to put the game away after it drove down the field and had the ball inside the E-E 1, but a fumbled snap recovered by the ‘Jackets gave E-E the ball on a touchback. Aguinaga orchestrated a 10-play drive before Ledesma came up with his first big play, a solo tackle that stopped what could have been a long gain.
On the next play, Hernandez hauled in a pass that was up for grabs and would’ve been a first down inside the red zone. One official called it a catch while another called the catch incomplete. After a few minutes of discussion, it was announced as an incomplete pass.
But the Yellowjackets had one final crack. With over a minute left and 81 yards to go, Aguinaga’s attempt to be the hero was ruined again after his pass to Ari Lozano was stripped and taken away from Ledesma to seal Mercedes’ victory.
“It was probably the two biggest plays I’ve ever made as a Tiger,” Ledesma said of his fourth quarter heroics. “I put my team in a winning position and we came up with the win.”
For the Yellowjackets, it was quite a comeback, but was one mistake too many early and late in the game.
“It came back to bite us,” E-E coach Joe Marichalar said of the first two scores given up in the first minute. “It’s the nature of the game.”