RGVSPORTS
Rio Grande City conquered the King Kong of District 31-5A on Friday night, rallying to upend previously undefeated Laredo Nixon, 14-13, at Joe R. Sanchez Stadium in Rio Grande City.
The Rattlers forced five second-half turnovers and backup quarterback Armando Gonzalez’s six-yard keeper early in the third quarter proved to be the game-winner.
It was Nixon’s first loss as the Mustangs dropped to 6-1, 4-1 in district. Rio Grande City improved to 6-2, 4-2.
“It was a physical ballgame,” Rio Grande City coach Aaron Garcia said. “Nixon came to play and I’m proud of our boys. I don’t think there’s anybody out there who gave us a chance. But we know we still have to play the game.”
Nixon struck first with 4:23 left in the first quarter. The Rattlers answered a few minutes later when Jason Perez found Rafa Gutierrez on a slant to even the score.
Nixon scored again with 8:26 left in the second quarter, but that would be it. The defense dominated the rest of the way for Rio Grande City, forcing an interception and recovering four fumbles.
“Field position was key for us,” Garcia said. “The defense came up big. We knew we matched up well with what they do. They’re good at what they do. There’s a reason why they were undefeated, but we came up with some pretty big hits. It was impressive.”
Now the Rattlers play Mission Veterans Memorial next week. The Patriots are a half-game back of RGC in the district standings.
“We haven’t secured anything, but it certainly gives us momentum for next week,” Garcia said. “We have to get back to the drawing board and see how we match up. It will be a good test for two teams in must-win situations.”
DISTRICT 30-6A
McALLEN MEMORIAL 45, LA JOYA HIGH 14: At La Joya, Campbell Speights ran for 183 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Mustangs to a win.
“He just plays really solid,” coach Bill Littleton said. “He did a good job.”
The victory positions McAllen Memorial as District 30-6A’s lone unbeaten at 4-0 and 5-2 overall. La Joya High drops to 3-4, 2-1.
The Coyotes entered the game as the district’s top defense and committed to trying to stop the run, so the Mustangs went to their passing game some. Quarterback Angel Almaguer completed 4 of 5 attempts for 123 yards and two touchdowns — a 45-yard strike to Sean Skaugen and a 30-yard score to Jayce Bazan.
“They loaded the box and they were stunting every play,” Littleton said. “So it’s kind of hit and miss. Sometimes you make a big play, and sometimes they make a big play. We were fortunate to make more big plays than they did.”
McALLEN HIGH 35, LA JOYA JUAREZ-LINCOLN 19: At McAllen, the Bulldogs ran for 294 yards and three scores to pick up their first District 30-6A win, snapping a four-game skid.
McAllen High moves to 2-5 and 1-2 in district, while Juarez-Lincoln drops to 3-5 and 1-3.
“We wanted to keep their offense off the field and we wanted to eat some time off the clock, so we told the kids we needed to get the running game going,” McHi coach Kevin Brewer said. “The kids did a great job. The o-line did a great job. The backs did a great job. The quarterback did a great job checking to runs. And we needed that.”
Sandon Yarto was McHi’s leader on the ground, picking up 169 yards and a score on 17 carries.
“He’s been huge,” Brewer said. “He’s such a physical runner and an instinctual runner. He sees the holes, he sees the creases, he knows how the blocks develop. He gets a lot of (yards after contact), and he’s just doing a great job in that role.”
Roy Gutierrez ran for 71 yards and a score, while quarterback Ruben Rodriguez had 44 yards rushing with a touchdown and completed 8 of 16 passes for 133 yards, including scores to Gunnar Henderson and Victor Valdez.
McHi only narrowly outgained Juarez-Lincoln 427-423, as the Huskies came alive after the Bulldogs took a 14-0 lead into the break.
Elias Gutierrez, Albert Martinez and Andrew Rodriguez scored rushing touchdowns for Juarez-Lincoln.
McALLEN ROWE 24, MISSION HIGH 17: At Mission, Raudel Garcia had three rushing touchdowns for the Warriors.
“He had a big game, there’s no doubt about it,” Rowe coach Bobby Flores said. “As we went down the stretch in the second half, we put in some formations and were able to get some big runs.”
Flores said Hector Ramirez opened up running lanes on sweep plays, and Garcia took advantage.
After Rowe built a 24-10 lead, Mission scored and then got the ball back near midfield with about 3 minutes to play. The Warriors came up with a turnover on downs inside the 15-yard line to seal the win.
“It was a great game, and we were able to get a big stop there at the end and come out with the victory,” Flores said.
DISTRICT 31-6A
PSJA NORTH 17, PSJA SOUTHWEST 14: At Pharr, junior cornerback Brandon Gonzalez recovered an interception in the final two minutes of regulation to help the Raiders preserve their undefeated record.
Gonzalez’s pick came around the 3-yard line as PSJA North improved to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in District 31-6A.
“They did a great job,” Raiders coach Marcus Kaufmann said. “They kept the ball from us. Coach Jesse (Reyes) stayed patient. They’d get four yards, four yards and get a first down. We didn’t have very many possessions. And when that happens, you can’t score a whole lot.
“But we stayed patient and we got stops and made the plays when we needed to make them.”
Quarterback Darren Fuentes scored both touchdowns for the Raiders, who take on Edinburg Vela next week.
EDINBURG NORTH 17, EDINBURG ECONOMEDES 6: At Edinburg, Justin Guerra scored on a 50-yard run in the fourth quarter to secure the Cougars’ second win of the season.
Edinburg North (2-5, 2-2 in district) broke away from a 3-3 tie in the third quarter, when freshman Isaiah Rangel scored on a 55-yard strike from quarterback Cristian Espinoza to go up 10-3. From there, the Cougars’ defense held the Jaguars to just one field goal the rest of the way.
“Our defense for the last two games has played lights-out,” Edinburg North coach Rene Saenz said. “Econ and Pharr North have potent offenses, and our defense played pretty tough. I’m proud of those guys. It starts up front with the d-line and the linebackers. Econ felt they needed to throw the ball (after) the defense shut down the run pretty well.”
Once Econ aired the ball out, PSJA North went on to recover two interceptions.
“I’m proud of them,” Saenz said. “People would look at the record and say we’re 1-5, but we’re a lot better than 1-5. I tell our team that every day in practice, and tonight they played tough. It’s nice for them to have that reward. I was getting really frustrated because I wanted them to taste success a bit, but I think we’ll be able to go on a good district run.”
DISTRICT 32-6A
HARLINGEN HIGH 24, WESLACO EAST 10: At Weslaco, Jesse Castro had two passing touchdowns and a rushing score to lead the Cardinals.
Harlingen is now 5-2 overall, 5-0 against Valley competition and 4-0 in District 32-6A. Weslaco East is 3-4 overall and 1-3 in district, having played only RGVSports.com Top 10 teams this season.