By MARK MOLINA
Staff Writer
After three district games, the Harlingen South Hawks and the Brownsville Rivera Raiders find themselves needing a win to stay close in the playoff race.
Both teams sit at 1-2 in district play and sit behind Harlingen and Los Fresnos , who are both 2-1 and tied for third place in the standings, making tonight’s meeting at Boggus Stadium between the Hawks and Raiders one both teams desperately need to win at this point of the season.
The Hawks come in 2-4 overall after falling to Los Fresnos this past week 42-23 in a game in which South put themselves into a hole following a pair of special teams miscues which led to Los Fresnos scores.
“Yeah we are trying to correct stuff, but experience corrects all. A lot of guys started on JV last year and they’re working hard and getting better,” South head coach Lanny Wilson said Thursday night. “We’re working hard on correcting some of those mistakes and hopefully we can correct some of those mistakes. I’m anxious to see our team play a game without those mistakes because I think we can be a really good team.”
Prior to the loss, South has played solid, picking up a win over Lopez in week six and narrowly falling to Brownsville Vets.
The Chargers blocked a punt and scored the game-winning touchdown.
It was another Hawk miscue.
This week they get a team in the Raiders who have struggled this season, but are coming off their only win against Lopez in which they torched the Lobos for more than 200 yards on the ground.
The production was uncharacteristic of the Raiders who rank sixth in the district running the ball with 748 yards this season.
A lot of their production comes off the arm of quarterback Danny Elizondo and his 10 touchdowns through the air this year.
Still, despite their record, South’s Wilson isn’t going to sleep on the Raiders, who boast the district’s top-ranked defense.
“They’re as good as any team I’ve seen. Their record is deceiving and they’re really good on defense and have some good players on offense,” Wilson said. “Coach (Tom) Chavez does a great job with them; we’ve got our work cut out for us this week.”
The Raider defense allows 268 yards a game to opposing offenses, making it a tough match up for the Hawks offense, which is averaging 284 yards per contest.