MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
With a big win Friday night against Brownsville Hanna, the Harlingen South Hawks put themselves right in the middle of the playoff picture with two weeks to go.
They are currently tied in fourth place with the Brownsville Veterans Chargers at 3-2.
Chargers, however, own a head-to-head victory over the Hawks.
Up next for the Hawks is another big game with playoff implications as they head to San Benito to face the Greyhounds.
South head coach lanny Wilson knows his team is in for a tough night, but is confident his team can deliver in the clutch.
“We’re positive we think we can beat San Benito, but we have to play a mistake-free game and execute,” Wilson said. “We’re going to need to have breaks to win, but a lot of times you cause your own breaks. I’ve got a lot of respect for coach Dan Gomez and his program, so it’ll be a challenge.
“However, it’s late in the season and our goal is to get into the playoffs.”
After San Benito, the Hawks face rival Harlingen to end the regular season.
The Hawks are winners of three of their last four games.
Brownsville Vets, meanwhile, takes on Los Fresnos and hopes to end a two-game skid.
San Benito, Harlingen and Los Fresnos will clinch playoff berths with wins this week.
GOOD DEFENSE: Harlingen High rebounded from a stunning loss to San Benito by defeating two of the top teams in the district — Los Fresnos and Brownsville Veterans — in back-to-back weeks.
While the Cardinals’ offense has been tremendous, the defense is what has made the difference.
The Cardinals forced five turnovers against the Falcons and another three against the Chargers. They also held Los Fresnos to 18 points, well below its season average of 33 and held Brownsville Veterans to 28, 10 below its average and most of those came after the third quarter and the score was 45-7 at that point.
Those wins have helped put Harlingen High tied atop the District 32-6A standings.
“It’s always in our mindset to win, we prepare to come out here and win,” Harlingen coach Manny Gomez said.
Despite the recent success, Gomez didn’t want to discuss the postseason just yet. The focus remained on the opponent for the week.
“We take it a week at a time,” he said. “We don’t look ahead. We take care of business. We take care of today and not worry about tomorrow.”
The Brownsville Herald’s Andrew Crum contributed to this report.