By ANDREW CRUM | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Through three quarters, the Lopez Lobos and Pace Vikings remained locked in a scoreless battle as each team waited for its offense to break through.
Lopez scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns and held off Pace, 14-7, for a District 32-5A win in The Brownsville Herald’s Game of the Week on Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Lopez senior running back JD Diaz scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown with 4:53 left in the fourth quarter. Lopez (8-2, 5-2 in District 32-5A), behind a defense which had a sack and two interceptions (one apiece by junior defensive back Leo De La Torre and junior linebacker Carlos Arellano), held off Pace (5-5, 4-3) in a tough, district finale. Both teams are headed to the postseason with their opponents to be determined after games conclude this weekend.
“It all goes to the O-line, we can’t do anything without the O-line, they’re my security … they lead the way for me,” Diaz said. “(This win) gives us a boost (heading to the playoffs), but we can’t be overconfident. Whomever we play, they’re going to be a good team and they’re going to put up a good fight. It’s going to come down to the fourth quarter and whomever wants it most.”
After a defensive struggle in the first half and through the third quarter, the Lobos finally broke through on the scoreboard in the final quarter. Lopez senior running back Jose Echavarria took the handoff and ran through traffic and sprinted to the right sideline and into the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown to give his team a 7-0 lead with 10:29 left in the fourth.
After the Lobos’ defense got its second interception of the game, Lopez started its drive from the Vikings 24-yard line. Two plays later, Diaz capped off the drive with a 23-yard run to the end zone and gave the Lobos a 14-0 lead with 4:53 to play.
“It’s good to win before we go into the dance; it’s good to be a playoff team,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said. “It’s always nice to be a playoff team, it’s always nice to beat a Brownsville opponent and it’s always nice to beat Pace.”
On the next Pace drive, junior running back Brandon Zapata made sure the Vikings wouldn’t be denied, using a 58-yard run to put his team at the 1-yard line. Two players later, he scored on a 1-yard run to end the shutout with just 1:19 to play.
Pace had one last chance with an onside kick, but Lopez was able to recover and ran out the clock to seal the district victory.
“It’s unfortunate, we had our chances, but didn’t take advantage of them,” Pace coach Danny Pardo said. “We took a chance (on defense) and they broke it on us. That’s the way it goes, that’s the way the game is.”
The Lobos’ defense held the Vikings to 184 yards and nearly earned a shutout.
“Our defense always takes care of business,” Starkey said. “Our defensive staff is disappointed and so is our defense because we expected a zero and that should have been the second one this year. Coach Ramirez really prides himself on being the best defense in the Valley. We were very disappointed to see that Edcouch-Elsa is about 30 yards better than us on defense right now … but they’re staying home and we’re going to continue playing football so that’s got to count for something.”
Zapata led the offense with 72 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown for the Vikings.
Lopez totaled 224 yards on the ground as Diaz finished with 38 yards and a score. Echavarria had 57 and a touchdown and senior quarterback Marco Solis added 74 yards for the Lobos.
Despite the loss, Pardo and his team are going to the postseason with both sides of the ball playing well.
“We’ve got some kids back on defense so they’re playing better … we’ve got some more confidence,” he said. “Offense has never really been a problem, I’m proud and grateful that our defense is coming around at the right time.
“We can at least help out the offense a little more than before.”
Lopez has plenty to be proud of as the regular season ends, but the Lobos are now looking toward the postseason.
“Winning eight games is a big deal anywhere you’re at,” Starkey said. “I think a lot of teams in the Valley would take eight wins right now, but we’re on of the few that’s got them. The history of this program isn’t great, but the future is pretty dag gum bright because of this staff and these kids … we won eight games and haven’t done that in 16 years. Our whole objective was to be better than we were yesterday and right now we are.
“We didn’t win a playoff game last year, but we didn’t get back to the playoffs to just lay down. So we’re pretty excited to see who our opponent is going to be because we can’t wait to go and play some playoff football.”
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.