GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — Coming into Friday night, McAllen Memorial’s Trevor Speights had heard rumblings that McAllen High’s Josh McGowen was out to prove himself as the city’s best back.
For Speights, simply posting another dominant rushing performance wasn’t going to be enough to set the record straight. Instead, he wanted to be in on defense, too, personally spying McGowen.
“I wanted to shut down the best running back in McAllen,” Speights said sarcastically, gesturing air quotes with his hands. “He called me out, so I had to show him what’s up.”
Speights did precisely that, racking up 326 yards and four touchdowns on the ground while playing more defense than he has at any point in his McAllen Memorial career, leading the Mustangs to a 55-21 win at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium,
From McHi’s first drive, Speights often lined up at free safety, typically playing anywhere from 8 to 12 yards off the line of scrimmage and following McGowen wherever he went.
“When you add that level of football player on the field, even if he’s playing out of position, you elevate everyone else,” linebacker Sam Hinojosa said. “He helps bring everyone up to a higher level. He has intensity, and he just goes for the ball.”
Speights consistently cut down McGowen’s running angles, meeting him at the sideline to prevent him from breaking free for a potential big play.
McGowen, who entered the night as the district’s second-leading rusher, finished the game with 130 yards and a score, but he did so on 28 carries. He was stopped for four yards or fewer 20 times.
“We just felt like (Speights) was our best matchup speed-wise for McGowen, so we felt like we had to play him some,” coach Bill Littleton said.
With an extra week to prepare for McAllen High thanks to the bye, Speights said he spent the majority of his practice time with the defensive unit.
He’d played defense some in Memorial’s prevent packages this season, but he said he hadn’t made a tackle in-game since at least his sophomore year.
“I was kind of rusty,” Speights said. “Towards the end of the game, I got back in my rhythm.”
Speights was just one piece of a dominant night for the Memorial defense, which held McHi to 244 total yards. Removing McHi’s two big plays — a 65-yard touchdown catch by Sandon Yarto and a 34-yard scoring run by Caleb Youngblood — the Bulldogs averaged just 2.9 yards per play.
JD Islas had a pair of sacks, Ricky Miner disrupted play after play in the backfield, and Garrett St. Clair and Ozzy Salazar hauled in interceptions.
“Defensively, down by down, we played a hell of a game. We did a great job,” Hinojosa said. “If we line up and know what we’re doing, we’re one of the best defenses out there. No one can debate us on that.”
On offense, it was business as usual for McAllen Memorial. Speights did the heavy lifting, in the process upping his season totals to 2,258 yards and 34 touchdowns. Now with 8,931 career yards, he moved into fourth on the Texas high school football career rushing list.
“I just wanted to be physical and let them know they had a power running game coming at them for four quarters, and they couldn’t do anything but take it,” Speights said. “That was our plan: out-physical them.”
OTHER OPTIONS
Quarterback Jonathan Sanchez scored twice on the ground for Memorial and once through the air, connecting with DJ Johnson for 81 yards on a screen pass.
JoJo Williams also found the end zone with a 22-yard scamper.
Even after giving away four first-half possessions via lost fumble, McAllen Memorial finished the game with 591 total yards.
ALL-TIME SERIES
McAllen High still leads the all-time series between the two rivals 19-15, but Memorial has won six in a row.
UP NEXT
McAllen Memorial (8-0, 4-0) will look to continue its undefeated run through the district when it hosts La Joya Palmview on Thurday at 7 p.m.
McHi (4-5, 3-2) will have a chance to regroup with a week off before traveling to face Palmview on Nov. 5.