By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
It all came down to a play the Chargers drew up over the week.
Abel Martinez’s 38-yard touchdown run off a reverse capped a second-half comeback and gave the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers the go-ahead score in a 17-14 season-opening win against the Edinburg North Cougars on Friday at Brownsville Veterans Stadium.
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 hole and took the ball to pay dirt.
“I was kind of nervous that it wasn’t going to work,” Martinez admitted. “In the end, I saw the opening hole — a big hole — and knew I was going to score.”
The game-clinching TD came on a play Brownsville Veterans’ coaching staff pulled out of its back pocket to give the home team its first lead with 6:35 left in the game.
“(Running backs coach) Joe Martinez wanted to run what we call 29 Z Reverse,” BVM head coach David Cantu said. “That was the one that gave us the lead. I just kissed him on the head right now, told him, ‘You called the winning touchdown Pope,’ so awesome play call by him.”
The Chargers came out of the locker room trailing 14-0 after a first half full of penalties and other mistakes that showed signs of a young team that only returned five starters from last season.
A 30-yard field goal by Jose Luis Zarate capped a nine-play, 66-yard scoring drive that cut the Cougar lead to 11.
On North’s next series, the Cougars missed a 42-yard field goal that gave the Chargers the ball at their own 25. BVM then drove down the field on eight plays and scored on a six-yard run by junior quarterback Gustavo Vazquez to trim its deficit to 14-10.
Vazquez finished the game with 141 total yards and a score for the Chargers, and senior quarterback Isaiah Solis completed 11-of-16 passes for 108 yards.
Junior Ethan Vela led North with 115 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Senior quarterback Cristian Espinoza threw for 42 yards and senior receiver Justin Guerra had four receptions for 27 yards.
The Cougars outgained Brownsville Veterans in total offense 114-80 in the first half, but couldn’t get it going over the final 24 minutes of play. North’s missed field goals from 40 and 42 yards were the Cougars’ closest chances to points after halftime.
“I was super proud of them,” Edinburg North coach Rene Saenz said. “It wasn’t from a lack of effort. I think the first half was an indicator of that. They came out and really dominated physically on both sides of the ball. Championship teams have to put teams away when you have it that way. When you have a 14-point lead and the opening drive of the third quarter, you have to put it away.”
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.