HARLINGEN — Heading into their bi-district playoff contest, Harlingen Cardinals head coach Manny Gomez didn’t feel like his team was playing its best football.
It’s likely that nobody feels like that now.
Harlingen’s offense looked nearly unstoppable and its defense was as smothering as it’s been all year, as the Cardinals strolled to an impressive 60-7 win over the Edinburg Economedes Jaguars on Friday night at Boggus Stadium.
Harlingen’s trio of Jesse Castro, Leo Tienda and Michael Allen Gonzalez needed a little more than three quarters of work to light it up as the Cards nearly matched their highest point total of the season with a 46-0 first half.
“Every week’s a challenge,” Gomez said. “Sometimes, someone excels and sometimes, someone doesn’t excel, but tonight, it seems like everyone was excelling.
“You want kids to perform to their maximum potential and that’s what we got tonight.”
For Economedes head coach Gabe Pena, his team was proud to make the postseason for the third time in four seasons, but the Jags simply ran into a buzz saw.
“We tried our best to prepare for what Harlingen brings to the table,” Pena said. “They executed in all aspects of the game and they played with a lot of class. You can say what you want about Harlingen’s aggressiveness and their physicality, but they do it with class.
“That really hit home for us today and my hat’s off to them.”
Now, Harlingen will face McAllen Memorial, which knocked off Laredo United South 27-24 Friday night.
In addition to the offense, the Cardinals defense had an equally impressive first half, holding Economedes to minus 9 yards of first-half offense and sacking Jaguar QB Jesse Gonzalez four times.
Their special teams even set the tone for the night, as the Cards’ Chris Valdez blocked Economedes’ first punt of the night, allowing Sam Gonzalez to fall on the ball in the end zone.
Following that, Harlingen’s offense went to work as it went up 14-0 after Tienda capped off a four-play, 62-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run. He also had a 50-yard scamper for his second touchdown run on the night three possessions later. He finished with four carries for 94 yards and even caught a touchdown.
Then, it was Castro’s turn.
The senior QB found Gonzalez for a 29-yard strike and then found Tienda for a 32-yard catch and run on consecutive possessions.
Castro finished the night with four touchdowns on 9 of 12 passing or 173 yards. Two were to Gonzalez.
The Harlingen defense went 11 straight quarters before allowing a score of any kind before Economedes’ Allen Arredondo ran in a 13-yard score with 5:10 left in the fourth quarter against the reserves.
However, the Cards weren’t worried about it, as they provided opportunity for other players.
“I’m not about the zeros, but it provides opportunities; all these kids deserve a shot,“ Gomez said. “We used 100 percent of the kids performing tonight and it was good to see.”
Harlingen’s defense finished the night allowing the one touchdown and 55 total offense.