BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | THE MONITOR
EDINBURG — Heading into halftime, Edinburg North coach Rene Saenz and Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu had the same thing on their minds.
“Last year, we were down 14-0 at the half,” Cantu said. “This year, it was only 21-10. We felt we were actually in a better position this year.”
The comeback was just underneath the surface, and it didn’t take long to burst through.
“We were focused,” senior quarterback Gustavo Vasquez, who engineered a comeback win last year with two fourth-quarter scores, said. “We came out with a new game plan (in the second half), and we grabbed the momentum.”
Vasquez led an 8-play, 43-yard drive for the Chargers late in the third quarter. Vets got to the 1-yard line but couldn’t convert. North took over at the 1, but the first play from scrimmage was a fumble by junior quarterback Francisco Zuniga, and the Chargers recovered.
On the second play from the 1, Vasquez jogged the ball into the end zone for a touchdown, which gave the Chargers their first lead of the game, 26-21.
The Chargers never looked back, cruising to a 39-21 win — their second comeback win over Edinburg North in as many years.
“It’s in the back of your mind,” Saenz said. “You try to be as positive as you can. … It comes down to mistakes. We hurt ourselves. We put ourselves in a bad spot, and then they take advantage.”
North came into the second half ready to play.
“We were doing good. We were excited at halftime,” said junior running back Cristian Flores, who opened the second half with a 78-yard kickoff return. “We made corrections, but (Veterans) came out and they wanted it more.”
It didn’t take long for that momentum to be sucked away, just as it was last year.
What should have been an easy 25-yard field goal was made more difficult by a false start penalty. On the retry, Veterans blocked the attempt and returned it about 15 yards, setting up Vasquez with good field position. Veterans capitalized with an 8-yard touchdown run from senior back Abel Martinez.
The story of the second half for Veterans was dominating the field-position battle. After having a drive fizzle out at midfield, Vasquez dropped a punt on the 2-yard line.
North couldn’t overcome the bad field position and was faced with a fourth-and-7 at the 5. The Cougars attempted to punt, but the snap wasn’t great, and junior punter Frank Cantu was left holding the ball in the end zone. He made several good cuts and made it almost 5 yards, but he couldn’t get past senior Isaac De La Fuente, who leveled Cantu for a safety.
“(De La Fuente) doesn’t start for us on offense or defense, but he made a huge play to get us that safety,” David Cantu said. “That was probably the biggest momentum-swinging play of the game.”
The ensuing kickoff sparked the drive that would lead to Vasquez shutting the door on Edinburg North, again.
Veterans carried the momentum, tacking on a few late scores. Martinez had a 41-yard run, and senior tailback Alexis Gomez scored from 8 yards out.
Much of the focus coming into the game surrounded the Edinburg North offense, and the unit did not disappoint.
On the opening drive, Zuniga was faced with a fourth-and-27 at Brownsville Veterans’ 33-yard line.
“It was cover three,” Zuniga said. “Free safety was on the right. I knew that horn route was going to be open.”
Zuniga hit senior wide receiver Demetrio Garcia in stride. Garcia was past his man and had open field in front of him as he sprinted into the end zone.
Zuniga later ran in a 16-yard touchdown before flashing his arm again later in the first half.
The Cougars got the ball with 2:17 left in the second quarter, and they showed off their no-huddle offense. The Cougars had a second-and-4 from the 48. Zuniga fired the ball deep down field, this time to the right sideline. Sophomore wide receiver Izaiah Rangel was all alone and caught the ball in stride. He showed his breakaway speed, sprinting to the end zone on a 52-yard catch and run. Rangel’s score put the Cougars up 21-10.
“The offense in the first half was very exciting,” Zuniga said. “We looked unstoppable. We were putting drives together pretty good. Our running back was running well. The passing game was there, but the second half we just got a little bit too overconfident. Now we know what to do in the future. We have to play all four quarters. We cant just play two. We just have to play our hearts out all four quarters.”