By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
After an early break in the season, Los Fresnos picked up where it left off in Week 1.
The Falcons showed a little rust at first, but quarterback Mark Mata poured it on after halftime in a 37-14 road victory over McAllen High on Friday night at McAllen Memorial Stadium in McAllen.
Mata ran for two touchdowns and threw one to Jose Ramirez — all after halftime — as Los Fresnos (2-0) made some adjustments and pulled away.
“We knew they were going to pack the box to stop Mata, so we took one of our backup lineman and made them a tight end,” Los Fresnos coach Patrick Brown said. “We were able to run the ball and get man coverage by our receivers. That helped us run the ball because all of our passing is predicated by our run game.”
Sebastian Gonzales returned an interception for a touchdown to start the scoring in the first half. David Alvarez ran for a touchdown and Alex Fragoso hit a field goal before the break as Los Fresnos led 17-7.
Brown was pleased with Mata and the offense.
“(Mata) does a good job readying the schemes, he’s a great athlete,” Brown said. “He’s going to be special.”
MISSION HIGH 42, HANNA 21
Hanna stayed with Mission High in the first half, but a few injuries hurt the Golden Eagles after halftime in the 42-21 loss Friday at Tom Landry Stadium in Mission.
Hanna (1-2) trailed by just a touchdown at the half, 21-14, but was outscored 21-7 in the second half as a pair of key defenders was knocked out of the game with injuries. Running back Jaime Gonzalez was also limited because of cramping and didn’t get much time on the field after the break.
The Golden Eagles had three rushing touchdowns, including one from Gonzalez and backup quarterback Michael Payan, but it wasn’t enough in Hanna’s final non-district game before District 32-6A begins. But the good thing is that Hanna has two weeks before its next game.
“We just need to get back to full strength,” Hanna coach Mark Guess said. “If we can do that, we feel we can play with anybody.”
PSJA HIGH 50, RIVERA 17
Rivera was in a tight game through one quarter, but fell behind before halftime and never caught up in the 50-17 loss to PSJA High on Friday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.
The Raiders got a field goal in the first quarter and trailed just 7-3. But the Bears outscored Rivera 29-7 in the second quarter to take a 36-10 lead at halftime.
The deficit proved to be too great to overcome in the second half for the Raiders (1-2) who lost for the second straight week after opening the season with a victory against Porter.
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.