By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Gustavo Vasquez and Brownsville Veterans Memorial answered the challenge against the Lopez defense.
Vasquez scored two first half touchdowns and finished with 92 yards on the ground to lead the Chargers to a 21-7 victory over the Lobos in The Brownsville Herald’s Game of the Week on Friday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“I had my mind right,” Vasquez said. “I took care of the ball with two arms on it … following the blocks of my great offensive line.”
The Chargers racked up 170 yards rushing with Abel Martinez gaining 118 yards of those to help give Brownsville Veterans (5-2, 3-1) the District 32-5A victory and hand Lopez (5-2, 3-1) its first loss in district play and snap its five game-winning streak.
“Just our preparation,” Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu said of being able to get the win. “Hours and hours and seven days a week of coaches grinding it out, putting kids in positions to be successful.
“We don’t single-handedly beat anybody with one player, it’s a team effort.”
The teams traded possessions during a scoreless first quarter filled with plenty of intensity and emotions. But the Lobos took an early hit after receiver Jose Echavarria received his second unsportsmanlike penalty and was ejected.
But Lopez recovered — at least temporarily. After Brownsville Veterans missed a 26-yard field goal attempt, Lopez finally broke the tie with a 2-yard touchdown run by Ivan Olivo with 6:36 left in the second quarter to give the Lobos a 7-0 lead.
But the loss of Echavarria was a huge impact on the offense.
“We lost our composure a little bit and unfortunately a key member of the ball club,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said. “I didn’t do a good enough job readjusting our scheme and our plan coming in to this game. I let the team down (Friday). This one’s on me, it’s not on the kids.”
Brownsville Veterans answered quickly on its next possession. Vasquez found pay dirt after a 1-yard run to tie the game at 7 with 5:20 left in the half.
Later in the second, a short punt gave the ball to the Chargers with a short field to go. A few plays later Vasquez gave Brownsville Veterans a 14-7 lead with 29 seconds left in the half after a 37-yard run through traffic breaking tackles along the way to the end zone. That would prove to be the winning score for Brownsville Veterans.
“It was crazy,” he said. “I was doing my best to stay up and keep my legs pumping just following the blocks.”
In the second half, the teams played even except for a Lopez botched snap that Tommy Martinez picked up and ran it back 35 yards for the touchdown to seal the win for the Chargers.
Lopez didn’t get anything going on offense, punting four times and the Chargers’ defense stepped up with a few sacks, a pair of turnovers, including an interception by Aaron Recio and held the Lobos’ offense to 235 yards.
Olivo finished with 133 yards rushing and the lone touchdown for Lopez.
The Lobos lost for the first time in district this season and face Mercedes, who is unbeaten in District 32-5A, in Week 9.
“I was proud of the way they continued to compete,” Starkey said. “We’re going to get better from this. I welcome the adversity and I think it’s a great opportunity to look back and learn from what happened.”
The Chargers are coming off back-to-back big wins over Edcouch-Elsa and now Lopez, but Cantu kept an even tone.
“The biggest game is the next one on the schedule,” he said. “We have a great respect for Porter and we’ve seen what they can do. We have a short week and we just have to worry about that.”
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.