BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
Rio Grande City shook off a shaky first half to beat Laredo Martin going away 52-22 on Thursday in Laredo.
“It was an ugly game, but we came out on top,” Rio Grande City coach Aaron Garcia said. “There were some mistakes made on our part. They scored and led early on a fumble recovery, and we had penalties.”
Senior quarterback Jason Perez supplied the offense in the first half, rushing for three touchdowns to give the Rattlers an 18-13 lead heading into the locker room.
“We stressed to them to play smart football and being fearless ballplayers,” Garcia said.
Garcia’s halftime talk with his team appeared to get the Rattlers (3-1, 2-0) back on track against the Tigers (1-3, 0-2). Perez tossed touchdown passes to wide receivers Demencio Venecia (59 yards), Jorge Martinez (17 yards) and Edgar Chapa (36 yards), with sophomore running back Angel Galvan (6 yards) catching a fourth.
“He’s been steady for us,” Garcia said. “If you look at his stats, four touchdown passes say he had a great game, but there are some things that he can still fix. In the end, the kids pulled together. It was a great team win.”