By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Rivera defense had trouble against Mercedes’ offense early.
The Tigers scored on three of their first four drives during the controlled scrimmage session and went on to defeat Rivera 8-4 in the first scrimmage of the season for both squads Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“It’s a big difference (between controlled and live scrimmages),” Rivera coach Tom Chavez said. “We have some young guys on offense, and the timing’s not there and we’re having a hard time. (Later) we started picking up their speed (on offense).”
Mercedes hit on long passes during each of those drives. The Tigers scored on pass plays of 37, 28 and 45 yards to take the lead early against the Raiders.
“I like the speed and intensity, they were flying to all over the ball,” Mercedes coach Roger Adame said. “The second part of the scrimmage, I felt we made some mistakes there. We had momentum going, going, going, but then we had an interception. We have some young guys, and hopefully we can catch up to speed.”
Rivera’s offense struggled early on and had four straight three-and-out drives before finally connecting for a score on a 20-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit.
And later, the Raiders scored on their last two drives, an 18-yard pass play and a 5-yard run for another score, to end the controlled portion.
The Tigers also scored on three running plays and another pass play during the first session. Mercedes scored on seven of the 11 possessions as opposed to Rivera, which managed only three scores on its 11 drives.
Rivera looked much more comfortable during the live action part of the scrimmage and scored the only touchdown during the two 12-0minute quarters with a running clock.
After an interception by the defense to stop Mercedes at the Rivera 10-yard line, the Raiders had a 90-yard pass play go for a touchdown after the receiver got separation from the cornerback for the score.
“I was proud of the defense for what they did,” Chavez said. “They started matching the speed and started making a lot of plays.
“We just have to keep working.”
The Raiders’ defense held its own, also forcing a fumble and not allowing any points during the live action.
Adame said the team would work on its mistakes next week.
“These guys got to get used to making plays and putting some good plays together,” he said. “We can’t have these drives where we’re going backwards. We have to cut out some of these bad situations, third down we have to get off the field, and on offense we have to put a drive together and score quick.”
Chavez was glad to get through the first scrimmage and was ready to get back to work.
“They got a taste of it, now we just have to keep on going,” he said. “They know what to expect now, and our conditioning helped us a little bit. We just have to work a little bit harder every day and get a little bit better.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.