RGVSPORTS.COM
Edinburg Vela’s Robert Guerra broke the Valley’s single-game scoring record Friday, tallying nine touchdowns during a 63-62 double overtime win against Victoria East at Memorial Stadium in Victoria.
Guerra’s scoring output put him in an eight-way tie for the third-most touchdowns scored in a single game in Texas high school football history. Only Pilot Point’s Jiggs Ray (11 TDs, 1937) and Spur’s Jim Hahn (10 TDs, 1930) have totaled more in one night.
Guerra finished the night with 33 carries for 359 yards and seven TDs on the ground. His rushing yard total is the fifth-most by a Valley player. He also had three catches for 70 yards, two for touchdowns.
“I’m just really proud of our football team,” Vela coach Michael Salinas said. “Robert had a good game today. We felt we needed to run the football tonight. He did a really good job. As a team, more importantly, the kids responded.”
San Antonio Madison’s Aaron Clark was the last player to total nine touchdowns in a game when he did it against Kerrville in 2008.
Guerra broke the previous Valley mark set by Rio Grande City’s Bernie Anzaldua against La Joya in 1989.
Guerra scored his seventh touchdown of the game late in the fourth quarter Friday to tie for Vela at 49-all. The senior running back then went on to score once in each overtime, including the final one on a fake field goal in which Guerra took it past the goal line for a 63-56 lead.
East went on to score before a bad snap derailed them on the PAT to close out both teams’ season opener.
ROMA 41, LA JOYA PALMVIEW 7: At Roma, Gladiators junior running back Bryan Garcia scored three touchdowns to spark a victory at Gladiator Arena.
Teammates Angel Gomez and Felix Gomez scored one apiece, and Andy Marroquin found Damon Villarreal on a 23-yard scoring strike as the Gladiators improved to 1-0 on the season.
“I thought we did a good job of being physical,” Roma coach Max Habecker Jr. said. “Our backs did a hell of job of running through the seams that the offensive line was creating. The offensive line did a tremendous job tonight. Defensively, we created turnovers. We ran to the ball. We created a lot of three-and-outs. We made fourth-down stops.
“We returned a punt 65 yards to the 5(-yard line). Our kicking game was solid overall. It was a good Week 1 performance for us.”
Perhaps most impressive was Roma’s scoring output considering it was without Ramon Espinoza, the district’s leading rusher a year ago. Espinoza, who tallied 1,743 yards and 20 touchdowns, is recovering from April surgery to fix a fracture in his arm. A projected six-week recovery has turned into four months because the arm has not healed correctly. There is no timetable on Espinoza’s return.
“He’s here with us, working hard. He’s doing what he can,” Habecker said. “He’s out there running, conditioning. He’s getting ready so that when the day comes and they say it’s good, we’re ready to roll.”
Also worth noting Friday was Roma’s defensive efforts, keyed by Angel Gomez’s two forced fumbles recovered by Jesus Villarreal and Rafa Garcia. Teammate Juan Cordero also recovered an interception.
PSJA NORTH 39, MISSION HIGH 9: At Mission, the Raiders broke through a 9-9 tie once Oscar Cantu returned an interception for a 70-yard and North never looked back.
“We just started rolling from there,” Raiders first-year coach Marcus Kaufmann said. “The fight these kids had. They fought through. They had bad stuff happen and they didn’t let their heads down. They didn’t feel sorry for themselves. They fought back and they turned the corner.”
Running backs Bo Adams and Rene Ramirez led the rushing attack for North, which took a 24-9 lead at halftime.
PSJA HIGH 36, DONNA NORTH 33: At Pharr, Joachim Almaguer scored on a five-yard run to lift the Bears.
After giving up a 60-yard touchdown run, Donna North was flagged for excessive celebrating and was docked 15 yards on the ensuing kick. PSJA then took it inside the red zone before Almaguer scored and the Bears’ converted two points.
“I’m very proud of my kids,” PSJA coach Steve Marroquin said. “We just keep telling them let’s take it one game at a time. This program really needed it to get how things were before. We know we’re in a very tough district, so we’re going to enjoy this one and get back to work tomorrow.”
McALLEN ROWE 30, EDINBURG HIGH 14: At McAllen, Rowe used a kickoff return touchdown by Hector Ramirez to spark a strong second half and pull away from Edinburg High.
Quarterback Jesus Sanchez completed touchdown passes to Freddy Ayala and William Savage, and Raudel Garcia scored on the ground for Rowe.
“I was extremely happy with our effort on offense,” coach Bobby Flores said. “They did a good job slowing down some of our running game, but we were able to use play action. We hit a couple of passes there to open it up.”
Flores said Rowe, using a new offensive system, was able to maintain a good balance of run and pass. He also praised the team’s defense, which was led by linebacker Frank Delgado and complemented by strong play from the defensive line of Ivan Avila, Nate Hernandez, Isaac Mata and Danny Martinez.
LA JOYA JUAREZ-LINCOLN 35, PSJA MEMORIAL 7: At La Joya, Juarez-Lincoln jumped out to an early lead and coasted by PSJA Memorial.
CJ Flores had a receiving touchdown, and quarterback Andrew Rodriguez and running backs Adonis Barillas and Livan Pequeño all scored on the ground.
“We came out of the gate really focused and we jumped on them early,” Juarez-Lincoln coach Tommy Garcia said. “We had a good running attack. Obviously, that’s going to set up our passing.”
Garcia praised Rodriguez, making his first varsity start at quarterback, for his composure. Linebackers Joseph Valdez and Benito Gonzalez were the standouts on defense.
BROWNSVILLE VETERANS MEMORIAL 17, EDINBURG NORTH 14: At Brownsville, Abel Martinez’s 38-yard touchdown run off a reverse capped a second-half comeback and gave the Chargers the go-ahead score in a win over Edinburg North.
The do-it-all junior took a pitch from running senior running back Fabian Roque and cut his way to the right sideline, where he found a whole and took it.
“I was kind of nervous that it wasn’t going to work,” Martinez said. “In the end, I saw the opening hole, a big hole, and knew I was going to score.”
CALALLEN 20, MERCEDES 7: At Mercedes, the Tigers were tied at 7 through the opening half before Calallen scored the final 13 points to close out the opener.
HIDALGO 21, SANTA ROSA 20: At Hidalgo, the Pirates survived a missed extra-point kick down the stretch to hang to win their season opener.