By ANDREW CRUM | Staff Writer
The Hanna Golden Eagles wanted a better offensive showing against than it had last week.
They got it.
Hanna, led by junior running back Cesar Mancias, piled up nearly 300 yards rushing and used a quick start to jump out to a lead they would never relinquish in a 35-7 victory over the Porter Cowboys in a non-district game on a rainy Friday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Mancias, a junior running back, racked up 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first half and was finished for the night as Hanna (1-1) earned its first victory while Porter remained winless.
“We came out ready to play, played with heart,” Mancias said. “It feels great (to get our first win) … hopefully there’s more to come and the playoffs this year.”
The Cowboys struggled offensively in the first half, getting just one first down and punting six times.
The Eagles took advantage as Mancias found the end zone twice in the second quarter. Up 14-0 with 10:12 left in the second, Mancias finished a drive with a 2-yard touchdown run and later found a seam on the left side and dashed 84 yards for another score to give Hanna a 28-0 advantage.
“His motor is something else,” Hanna coach Mark Guess said about his junior running back. “He gets after it, he wants to score every time he touches the ball. He’s an awesome running back and he’s a junior, so he’s still young … he’s going to keep getting better.”
The Eagles wasted no time getting on the board in the opening quarter. After Porter punted on its first possession, the Golden Eagles got a quick score on a 50-yard punt return from senior free safety Matthew Garcia for a 7-0 lead with 9:33 left in the first quarter.
The Cowboys punted on its next drive and Hanna scored again less than four minutes later. The Eagles’ 60-yard drive was capped off by a 28-yard scamper from junior running back Aaron Frausto for a 14-0 edge with 5:58 to go.
It was important for Hanna to get off to a quick start after being down early in Week 1 before losing a lead late in the fourth quarter.
“It was important because we made a lot of mistakes last week, we felt we gave that game to (Edinburg) Economedes,” Guess said. “Defensively this week we played lights out in the first half … gave up just one first down. We’re starting to get better, but we’re not where we need to be, we’re going to keep our noses to the grindstone.
“But I can’t complain with the effort, the kids come out and play hard every play.”
Porter fell behind early for the second straight week after its offense couldn’t get on track.
“We can’t start off slow like we have the last two weeks,” Porter coach Carlos Uresti said. “I know we’re young, but we preach about executing plays. We’re a running team and we can’t fall into first-and-25, first-and-20, we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot.”
The Cowboys’ offense played better after halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, Porter picked things up and scored its lone touchdown on a 5-yard touchdown run by freshman quarterback Kevin Garcia with 11:56 to go in the fourth quarter.
Hanna added another score in the fourth on a 3-yard run by Frausto, who finished with 74 yards on the ground and a pair of touchdowns.
Ulises Guzman finished with 71 yards on 17 carries for the Cowboys.
The Porter coach was happy about the second half surge, but knows his team has to play a complete game.
“I’m happy the way we came on in the second half, but we have to start games like that,” Uresti said. “We have to put it together … the game is two halves and we can’t start out slow. It’s on us (as coaches). We have to roll with it and be ready to go next week in McAllen.”
Guess was happy for the win, but sounded like he was already thinking about facing Mission High in Week 3.
“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “We have some unfinished business. We just have to come out and play ball and prepare for a tough, physical ballgame.”
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.