By MARK MOLINA | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
LOS FRESNOS — After climbing out of a 17-point first-half deficit, the Los Fresnos Falcons mounted just one scoring drive in the second half.
In fact, it was the only scoring drive for either team and it was all the Falcons needed as quarterback Charles Chapa capped off a 10-play, 80-yard drive with a 13-yard run with 2:23 to play, giving his team a 27-20 District 32-6A victory over the Cardinals on Friday night at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium.
For Chapa, everything just fell into place on the winning drive.
“We just turned up the tempo offensively,” Chapa said. “Our offensive line was getting on the ball and were picking up big blocks that they needed — it just worked out for us.”
The defense like it had the entire second quarter would force a Daniel Ramirez fumble on the ensuing possession and the Falcons picked up a first down to ice the game.
“I believe we have one of the best defenses around and they played hard,” Los Fresnos head coach Patrick Brown said. “Our offense did what it needed to do (in the end), but that’s a good football team right there. (Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez) is one of, if not the best coach in the Rio Grande Valley, so that’s a huge win for our program right there.”
The Falcons held the Cardinals to three punts, two turnovers and a missed field goal in the second half.
The Cardinals (5-3, 3-2) had a big night on defense, holding the Falcons (5-3, 3-2) to the lone scoring drive and six punts on seven second-half possessions.
Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez said someone had to win in the end.
“It’s just one of those things that when two teams are competing, you’re going to have outcomes like this —not everyone gets the win,” Gomez said. “I just want to give credit to the job coach Brown and his team did here tonight.Somebody has got to win and somebody has got to lose. (Los Fresnos) capitalized and made some plays early on and that’s just football.”
The loss puts Harlingen in fifth overall in the district with two weeks to play, having lost to Los Fresnos and Weslaco East — who boast identical records — in consecutive weeks. The Falcons move into third.
The Falcons finish up with road games against Rivera and Weslaco High, while the Cardinals host Hanna (6-1, 4-0 heading in tonight’s matchup with San Benito) and hit the road for the Battle of the Arroyo at San Benito.
“Everything got tighter, but we’ll go back like normal,” Gomez said. “We show up tomorrow, we’ll get in the weight room, run a little bit and come Monday we’ll go out there and start grinding.”
The Cardinals wasted no time getting the game started on the right note as quarterback Daniel Ramirez found Joe Reyna for a 49-yard pass.
That set up a 15-yard run by Ramirez to put Harlingen up 7-0.
Following a blocked punt on special teams on the ensuing Falcon possession, the Cardinals made use of a 21-yard field and found the end zone again, this time on the legs of Ralph Castellanos to make it 13-0 after a blocked point after midway through the first quarter.
The Falcons defense did turn the heat up on their pass rush, but the Los Fresnos offense mustered just a field goal on its first four possessions.
Ramirez hit Ethan Martinez down the middle of the field for a 39-yard touchdown pass to put the Cardinals ahead 20-3 with just under nine minutes to play in the first half.
Los Fresnos running back Albert Banuelos injected life into the Falcons on the ensuing possession with a 38-yard run to set up Cristian Pena for a 1-yard score to make it a 10-point game.
After a Cardinals three-and-out, Banuelos would find the end zone on a 23-yard run to make it a 20-17 game with under four to play.
Los Fresnos would officially climb out of its 17-point hole and hit the locker room at half tied at 20 after an Adrian Torres field goal.
Chapa threw for 118 yards on 13-of-25 passing with a pick. He also ran for 66 yards and the winning touchdown run.
“Coach Brown always says we’re the team and we can never give up no matter how bad we’re down,” Chapa said. “We have to continue to fight and that’s what we did.”
The Falcons’ only lead would be the final score, but Brown said that the moment never was too big for Chapa.
“I think that the kid doesn’t fear anything,” Brown said of Chapa. “And that scares you as a coach … but he is the slowest playmaker on the planet. He makes plays and he’s got that swagger and the ‘it’ factor as a quarterback.”
Banuelos carried the ball 12 times for 103 yards and a score in the half. He finished the game with 118 yards on 22 carries and caught 2 passes for 13 yards.
Harlingen’s Ramirez was 14 of 27 through the air on the night, racking up 211 yards and a score. He was also sacked five times and lost a fumble on the Cardinals’ final possession.