By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The Hanna Golden Eagles won their first district game of the season 34-15 over the Lopez Lobos on Friday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Hanna’s offense seems to be hitting its stride following another impressive performance against Lopez (0-7, 0-4 in District 32-6A). The Eagles (2-4, 1-3) have now scored 76 points during their past two games.
The offensive stability allowed Hanna to apply constant pressure throughout the game to secure the victory.
“We moved the ball when we needed to and did some things we haven’t done in a long time,” Hanna coach Rene Medrano said. “We had a few wrinkles, but I’m happy right now.”
The game took a while to get going, and after a scoreless first quarter the Eagles put 21 consecutive points on the board.
The first score came from Hanna’s Jaime Gonzalez, when he plowed through the defense for 12 yards on the first play of the second quarter.
Quarterback Andy Lopez dove through the pile from 1 yard out on the following possession, and then found Lucas Olivares on a 62-yard streak down the sideline to put the Eagles ahead by three scores.
Lopez took advantage of what little time remained at the end of the half to construct a six-play, 70-yard drive in two minutes that was capped by an 8-yard fade pass from Mike Vasquez to J.J. Mercado to put the Lobos on the board.
Vasquez then found Nicolas de la Garza for the two-point conversion, and Lopez cut the deficit to 21-8 heading into halftime.
The Lobos remained within striking distance throughout a third quarter that was primarily played between the 20-yard lines, as neither team seemed to do anything offensively. But that was before Brando Barrera plowed through the line for a 1-yard score with one minute remaining in the quarter to put Hanna ahead 28-8.
Lopez continued to claw its way back into the game as best it could, and the Lobos answered on the ensuing possession, scoring on another fade pass from Vasquez, this time from 3 yards away to Saul Mendoza.
In an attempt to regain possession with time running out, Lopez tried an onside kick but was offside and committed interference on the play, and Hanna received control.
“I give credit to the Hanna Eagles,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said. “They were very well prepared, and they executed better than we did. We just got beat tonight.”
With four minutes remaining, Barrera piled on another 1-yard TD run to seal the game for the Eagles.
“It feels good (to get the first district win),” Medrano said. “We needed it. We’ll let these kids enjoy it today but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, that’s for sure.”
Hanna will look to make it two in a row when the Eagles play host to the Harlingen South Hawks at Sams. Lopez again will try to notch its first win when the Lobos travel to San Benito take on the Greyhounds. Both games will be played at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.