At Laredo, Sharyland High withstood a pesky Laredo United team with timely scores and stops in the second half to put away the Longhorns 28-23 and to extend its regular-season winning streak to 25 games.
Loredo Guerra scored two touchdowns, one on a pass from backup quarterback Cesar Chapa. Abraham Chan went 2-for-2 with extra-point kicks, including two field goals. And Mauricio Martinez delivered the back-breaker — a 70-yard TD run with Sharyland on a fourth-and-1 situation midway through the fourth quarter.
“Coming into this game, we had told the kids, ‘We’re going to be challenged tonight against a real good team, playoff-caliber team. We’re going to be facing some adversity,’” Rattlers coach Ron Adame said. “And it pretty much unfolded like that. It’s good to see how we respond and reacted.”
Both teams traded touchdowns and field goals in the opening half. The difference came with its stops, particularly with Sean Landez intercepting a pass in the end zone that helped Sharyland milk some of the clock.
It was one of three turnovers the Rattlers recovered, with Beto Ruiz and Raciel Garza also coming away with the ball.
“What we got out of this win is, our boys proved that they can come up and take a win on the road against a very worthy opponent,” Adame said. “We showed some resilience and found a way to get the ‘W.’ I think what we’re going to get out of this game is going to pay dividends down the road because these types of opponents force you to dig deep and find out what kind of character your team is made of. We’re going to benefit from not only the opponent but from the outcome of this game.”
SHARYLAND PIONEER 14, BROWNSVILLE PACE 7: At Mission, Brandon Casas and Gabriel Benavides led the Diamondbacks running attack and the defense did their part, as Pioneer won its first ever game at home.
Casas, a sophomore, scored on a 16-yard run in the opening half. Benavides, a backup running back, scored from 8 yards out after intermission, as Pioneer (2-0) largely contained visiting Brownsville Pace (0-2) en route to its second consecutive win.
“Great defense again, kind of like last week,” Diamondbacks coach Jason Wheeler said. “It’s a good win for our program. We still got a lot of mistakes to correct. But I don’t think we have one senior starting. So it’s good experience for us.”
LA JOYA PALMVIEW 35, PSJA SOUTHWEST 28: At La Joya, Freddy Villarreal ran for 279 yards and three touchdowns as Palmview defeated PSJA Southwest.
Palmview took a lead into halftime, but Southwest came back and pulled ahead 28-27 with about six minutes left. Palmview answered with a 60-yard drive that Villarreal capped with a score.
“All in all, it was our o-line that bailed us out tonight,” coach Margarito Requenez said. “We moved the ball whenever we wanted to.”
BROWNSVILLE HANNA 23, MISSION HIGH 14: At Mission, the Eagles gave up too many big plays and couldn’t overcome the absence of injured starting quarterback Jesus Cuellar in a loss to Hanna.
Converted running back David Flores and William Arias both saw time at quarterback, but neither had much success.
“We’re struggling a little bit without Jesus Cuellar,” coach Mario Peña said. “The kids played hard, but we just gave up some big plays defensively.”
Flores and RJ Veliz both scored rushing touchdowns.
McALLEN HIGH 32, EDINBURG HIGH 6: At Edinburg, running back Ricky Rodriguez and quarterback Fred Hover starred as McAllen High bounced back from a 35-7 Week 1 loss to Odessa Permian.
Edinburg High falls to 0-2.
HIDALGO 47, PROGRESO 13: At Progreso, Hidalgo defeated Progreso to bounce back from last week’s loss to Sharyland Pioneer and move to 1-1 on the season. Progreso falls to 1-1 after defeating Brownsville Porter last week.
LA JOYA HIGH 33, DONNA NORTH 16: At Donna, the Coyotes spoiled the Chiefs’ first home game.
La Joya High improved to 1-1 and Donna North fell to 0-2.
TAFT 50, LA VILLA 0: At Taft, the Cardinals fell to 1-1.
ZAPATA 34, VALLEY VIEW 28: At Pharr, the Tigers came close to pulling off a big win but fell short.
Valley View dropped to 0-2.
BRUNI 53, MONTE ALTO 7: At Bruni, the Blue Devils fell to 0-2.