GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McAllen Memorial’s Trevor Speights is one of 10 candidates in the vote to determine the Mr. Texas Football Player of the Week award, presented by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football and Wells Fargo.
Speights ran for 338 yards and six touchdowns in last week’s 55-20 win against Edinburg North, in the process becoming the Valley’s all-time leading rusher with 7,858 yards.
For the season, he has 1,185 yards and 16 scores.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Speights had received 17 percent of the vote, good for third place. He trailed Houston St. Pius X quarterback Clay Roberts (25 percent) and Groveton quarterback Glenn Thornton (40 percent).
Thornton threw for 528 yards and three touchdowns while running for 58 yards and two more scores.
Voting takes place at TexasFootball.com and runs until noon Friday.
GROUND GAME?
McAllen Rowe coach Paul Reyes isn’t one to look too closely at his team’s stats. Week-to-week, the decisions about who gets the ball and what plays are run on offense will be based on how the opponents are lining up.
As long as the offense produces — and it has, ranking third in the district at 389 yards per game — it doesn’t matter that the team’s running backs have picked up just 21 yards on the ground in three games.
“It just depends on the scheme of what we’ve got,” Reyes said. “We look at things and see what’s our best formation and what’s our best thing of what’s going to happen against the defense.”
While the Warriors have been pass happy, picking up 76.9 percent of their offensive yardage through the air, the quarterbacks have also had some success on the ground.
Quarterback John Perez has run for 164 yards and two touchdowns, while fellow signal caller Jesus Sanchez has run 30 times for 64 yards. Gustavo Salazar has been the team’s leading running back, with just 13 carries for 18 yards.
“A lot of teams widen out and try to take care of the pass and leave the middle open,” Reyes said. “Our quarterbacks know when to check to the draw, so a lot of times, that’s why they get big yards. It just depends on what teams are doing against our schemes.”
STAYING UP
After McAllen High suffered three lopsided losses during the non-district season, one of coach Kevin Brewer’s focuses has been keeping his team confident.
Yes, McHi lost to Odessa Permian, Harlingen High and Corpus Christi Carroll by an average of 38 points. But those teams are a combined 9-2, with plenty of blowout wins on their resumes.
“That’s the danger of playing a schedule like that,” Brewer said. “If you’re not being successful against those teams, it will hurt your confidence. That is something that I’ve addressed. ‘Hey guys, we’re 1-3. But we’re not a horrible 1-3.’”
Brewer has no regrets about scheduling the teams he did. Heading into district play and eventually the playoffs, Brewer said his team will benefit from being able to point to the experience of those tough matchups.
“I’d hope to heck so,” Brewer said. “We took some beatings, and I would hate to have subjected my kids to that and not get any reward out of it. But I think we are. And I’m pretty confident it will pay off in the long run.”
The Bulldogs have found some positives during the first four games, namely running back Josh McGowen, who has run for 540 yards and five touchdowns. Quarterback Caleb Youngblood has also shown well, completing 54.9 percent of his passes for 327 yards and two touchdowns.
But Brewer has been concerned by his team’s inconsistency, and he isn’t sure how to combat the trend. The Bulldogs have sometimes come out flat on both sides of the ball, and a young defense has struggled to find its identity. All too often, especially on third downs, McHi has given up long touchdowns.
“That’s been way too common for us so far this year: Not being able to put two good halves together,” Brewer said. “That’s where we’re struggling right now, is playing two complete halves in all three phases. We’re just too inconsistent.”