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Laredo, Mission Veterans Memorial won its District 31-5A opener with ease and improved to 2-1 overall with a 48-21 win over Laredo Martin on Friday night.
Senior Diego Hernandez threw six touchdown passes, including three to Jake Guerrero. Landry Gilpin caught two and Johnny Martinez also caught a scoring pass. Martinez also had more than 100 rushing yards.
Freshman Mikey Garcia scored a touchdown on the run.
“We did some good things,” Patriots coach David Gilpin said. “We put some points up, and Martin’s a scrappy team. They’re well-coached and they get the most out of their kids. We have a young team, an inexperienced team, and this is a good win for us. It’s a good start.”
Laredo Martin (0-3) scored just once against Vets’ starters.
“I’m very pleased,” Gilpin said. “Offensively, we came out and played well. Defensively, we bent a lot but we didn’t break.”
RIO GRANDE CITY 28, VALLEY VIEW 12: At Hidalgo, junior quarterback Jason Perez’s scoring run with 4:16 left broke open a close ballgame as the Rattlers pulled away with a big win to improve to 3-0 overall, 1-0 in District 31-5A.
The win matches last season’s win total for the Rattlers.
“We’re stressing about taking it one game at a time, one practice at a time,” first-year head coach Aaron Garcia said. “We’ll enjoy this, it’s good to be 1-0 in district, but our focus turns to Laredo Martin on Saturday morning.”
Perez ran for two touchdowns in all, and Leo Serna added another touchdown run for Rio Grande City. The game was knotted at 6 at halftime and the Rattlers led 21-6 after the third quarter.
Garcia praised the play of Perez and receiver Javi Garcia.
“Going into the half, we weren’t really clicking offensively, and in the second half we played the way we’re capable of playing,” Garcia said. “We emphasized more of a tempo and we forced them to chase us. That played into what we wanted to do and we caught them on their heels.”
LAREDO NIXON 28, ROMA 20: At Roma, Laredo Nixon handed the Gladiators their first loss of the season.
Roma fell to 2-1, 0-1 in District 31-5A. The Mustangs, who jumped out to a 14-0 lead early in the game, improved to 3-0 overall.
LOS FRESNOS 37, McALLEN HIGH 14: At McAllen, Mark Mata ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more as the Falcons improved to 2-0.
McAllen High dropped to 1-2 heading into district play. The Falcons have one non-district game left before starting district play.
MISSION HIGH 42, BROWNSVILLE HANNA 21: At Mission, first-year coach Koy Detmer picked up his first career win as Mission pulled away from Hanna during the second half.
“It was good. It felt like getting King Kong off my back,” Detmer said. “The kids have worked really hard, and I was proud of them. They did a good job. For the past couple weeks, they’ve taken big steps forward, and I was proud to see that all of their hard work and efforts finally paid off for them.”
Robert Martinez and Steven De Leon each scored twice on the ground, Azahel Arizpe returned an interception for a touchdown, and freshman quarterback Damian Gomez scored once through the air.
Gomez was making his first career start after Rudy Treviño was injured last week.
“We were able to have a little mix of run and pass tonight,” Detmer said. “We were having some success running the ball, so we got a little bit more run heavy in the second half with the lead.”
LA JOYA JUAREZ-LINCOLN 14, DONNA NORTH 0: At Donna, Adonis Barillas scored on the ground and C.J. Flores hauled in a touchdown pass from Andrew Rodriguez, leading La Joya Juarez-Lincoln to a win.
Barillas and Livan Pequeno moved the ball well on the ground for the Huskies, and defensive players Elias Gutierrez and Benito Gonzalez shifted to offense and helped carry the load as Juarez-Lincoln lost players to injury.
“We were able to move the chains throughout the whole game,” Juarez-Lincoln coach Tommy Garcia said.
Defensively, the Huskies held the Chiefs to less than 150 total yards. Linebackers Gonzalez and Joseph Valdez were the standouts on that side.
“Really everybody had a good game, but our linebackers did a great job today,” Garcia said.
PSJA HIGH 50, BROWNSVILLE RIVERA 17: At San Juan, quarterback Trey Guajardo threw for three touchdowns and ran another as the Bears improved to 2-1.
Running back Marc Castillo, a three-year letterman, also scored on the ground once in his first game back from injury.
“He was itching to come back, and he caught the ball well and ran well,” PSJA coach Steve Marroquin said. “Without those big guys up front, our offense wouldn’t be moving the ball the way we are.”
Marroquin added: “Our defense played great tonight. They had their best game of the season. They’re starting to come around. Our coaches are doing a good job with them. We challenged them to have a better game, and that’s exactly what they did. We’re very excited and proud of the progress they’re making.”
EDINBURG HIGH 19, LA JOYA PALMVIEW 13: At La Joya, Saul Ramirez had the two touchdowns for the Bobcats, including the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter, and the team won its first game under coach J.J. Leija.
“It’s a great feeling,” Leija said. “The kids have been working hard; it’s all about them. Going into district next week, we’re playing a big opponent in Economedes. It’s going to be a handful for us, but I think this’ll help us. The kids have a great attitude. With this win, it gives them confidence. So we’ll see what happens.”
After losses to McAllen Rowe and Brownsville Lopez, Edinburg (2-1) opened a 13-0 lead Friday before Palmview (0-3) responded with a touchdown by Joel Piña. The Bobcats turned the ball over on the ensuing series, and Palmview cashed in on a short-yard drive in the third.
“The kids came back and they fought hard,” Leija said.
PSJA High improved to 2-1, surpassing last season’s win total. The Bears averaged 31.5 points on 456 yards entering Friday’s game. Rivera dropped to 1-2.
PSJA SOUTHWEST 35, GRULLA 34: At Rio Grande City, the Javelinas won a dramatic nail-biter to improve to 2-1 overall.
Grulla fell to 1-2, with both losses coming at home.
BROWNSVILLE ST. JOSEPH 48, RIO HONDO 28: At Rio Hondo, Mario Garcia rushed for 206 yards and a touchdown and Kai Money rushed for 120 yards and two more TDs as the Bloodhounds improved to 3-0.
Money also passed for another score as SJA built early leads of 9-0, 16-7 and 22-7 before the Bobcats (1-2) battled back to close the gap to 24-21 early in the third quarter.
The Bloodhounds, ranked No. 10 in the Rio Grande Valley this week by RGVSports.com, play their home opener next Friday against Raymondville at Canales Field.