NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
McALLEN — McAllen Memorial punted the ball on its first drive but didn’t punt again until it had put up eight touchdowns against McAllen High in a 55-21 win Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The game featured extra cameras and buildup as the Dairy Queen Game of the Week for Fox Sports Southwest, but a familiar result emerged as Memorial extended its winning streak over McHi to two classes — eight seasons.
Energy was high prior to the kickoff, but Memorial quickly took advantage of fumbles to jump out to a 14-0 lead and silence half the stadium.
“They’re a great team, so we knew right off the bat we had to score, and we couldn’t take our foot off the pedal,” Memorial fullback Emiliano Cruz said after the win.
The Memorial running game was dominant, and a familiar trio of Mustangs (5-2, 3-0) had huge games on the ground. By the end of the night, the Mustangs had rushed for 498 yards against the Bulldogs (2-4, 1-1).
“Every part of our offense was clicking. We had a lot of people execute,” junior quarterback Sean Skaugen said after the win. “It’s just great to see when everybody meshes like that. We played a really dominant game. You can’t really give the credit to one guy, because whenever a big play breaks, everybody did their job.”
Campbell Speights led the team with 155 yards and two TDs. He broke away from defenders for a 76-yard run in the second half.
The offensive line created tons of room for the Mustangs to work no matter who got the carries.
That became a factor, because after one play Speights remained down on the turf a while before walking to the bench under his own power. The sophomore returned to the game, but Cruz, who finished with 112 yards, took the role in the meantime.
“When you have Speights, Sean, a great O-line, it all works pretty well,” Cruz said. “They called my number. I knew when he went down, I had to step up. I felt it was my turn, and I did my best.”
Skaugen wasn’t far behind, with 154 yards plus three rushing TDs. He scored a 79-yard TD run on a read-option play during which Speights absorbed a big hit without the ball.
“He’s an athlete. Every time he runs, he goes for 10-plus. He opens up the game for us,” Cruz said of Skaugen. “They key on him, and that’s Campbell’s and mine opportunity to score.”
Even defensive standout Kelechi Nwachuku got in the TD parade, scoring from 6 yards out.
The lone passing TD for Memorial was from Angel Almaguer in the fourth quarter. He hit Johnny Larson on a slant route from the red zone.
McAllen’s scoring was led by Roy Gutierrez, who had two touchdowns. Aaron Nixon threw his first touchdown pass of the year, for 31 yards to Kristian Soliz.
Memorial coach Bill Littleton had little to complain about after the blowout win over crosstown competition. He said an early start can deject a team in a rivalry game.
“I thought our team played really well in all three phases of the game,” Littleton said. “In a game like this, it’s always important to get out of the gate fast. If you can get out fast, sometimes you can kind of get the emotion toned down a little bit.”
McHi will prepare for a battle with La Joya Juarez-Lincoln next week in an effort to get its playoff hopes back on track.
Meanwhile, Memorial will continue its quest for another undefeated 30-6A record against La Joya High.