MIKE GONZALEZ | STAFF WRITER
WESLACO — As is often the case with Weslaco High Panthers coach Tony Villarreal, he will make use of all of his timeouts.
With 5 seconds remaining in the game, he used his final two to ice Donna High kicker Luis Pina, who was attempting a 39-yard kick that would have won Donna the game. Villarreal’s strategy worked for the Panthers as Pina’s kick went wide left, and the Panthers escaped with a 14-3 victory in the rivalry game Friday at Bobby Lackey Stadium in Weslaco.
The win improves the Panthers to 1-1.
“I know it’s a joke that coach Tony uses all his timeouts, but it ended up good for us,” Villarreal said. “Normally I don’t have them.”
Donna’s potential game-winning drive began after Eric Gonzalez put Weslaco up 14-13 after on a 64-yard run. The Redskins (1-1) then milked the last four-plus minutes off the clock to set up the ill-fated field goal attempt.
On the drive, quarterback Edward Dougherty (9-of-16 passing for 121 yards, 28 carries for 106 yards rushing) came through with some big throws on the final drive in which Donna converted on two fourth downs.
It all seemed to work out for Donna and Ramiro Leal. Pina’s kick, however, was no good. He had made two 26-yard FGs earlier in the game.
“I’m really speechless,” Leal said. “I think we gave it all we’ve got.”
The first half was a defensive battle with Donna leading 3-0 at intermission.
Similar to the first game, the Panthers made critical mistakes. Their first drive ended in an interception. In the second quarter, and 18-play drive produced no points after the Panther failed to convert on a fourth-and-goal, deciding against a field goal.
“I thought we could punch it in,” Villarreal said. “Our kicker is awesome. Nothing is wrong.”
Weslaco High caught a break in the second half after recovering a fumble on a punt, Seven plays later, Jonathon Martinez gave the Panthers a 7-3 lead on a 15-yard run up the middle on fourth and 2.
Dougherty gave the Redskins back the lead after a 20-yard run in the third quarter. Donna led 13-7 after a second Pina field goal.
The Panthers answered with Gonazalez’s touchdown. The senior ended the night with 138 yards on 18 totes.
“We knew what defense they were running,” Gonzalez said. “That play was shut down the whole night.”
Donna holds a comfortable lead in the series (46-31-4), but have fallen to the Panthers two years in a row for the first time since the 1990s, when Weslaco won four in a row from 1991-94. None of the players on both rosters were even born.
“We’ve always heard about the curse that we’d only beat them once and then we’d lose to them a few more times,” senior linebacker Brandon Michael Torres said. “But now we finally broke it and I’m glad it happened in my senior class.”