By Roy Hess | The Brownsville Herald
The Hanna Golden Eagles have plenty of reasons to feel good about themselves and the upcoming football season after Thursday night’s decisive scrimmage victory against the PSJA Memorial Wolverines at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The Eagles outscored the Wolverines 3-1 in touchdowns during the controlled portion of the scrimmage before triumphing 31-3 in three quarters of game-situation action.
Hanna opens the regular season next Thursday at Sams against McAllen Memorial, a team that is being talked about as the preseason No. 1 in the Rio Grande Valley.
The Eagles weren’t thinking too much about McAllen Memorial just yet on Thursday night. They were busy savoring their win against the Wolverines.
One of the Hanna players who made a big contribution to the victory was Miguel Payan, a senior quarterback/receiver/kicker.
Payan caught a pair of 17-yard scoring passes from Victor Campos, threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Meyers and kicked a 29-yard field goal.
“Our scoring was pretty good tonight,” Payan said. “We can always do better, but we played together and got the win, so it was good.
“Winning our scrimmage with (Brownsville) Veterans last week (14-0) and now getting this win makes us feel stronger,” Payan added. “It makes us feel like we’re ready for a great start to our season. We still need to get better so we can make our season better.”
Hanna running back Cesar Mancias also had a standout game and scored TDs on runs of 20, 12 and 5 yards. Also, Campos, the Eagles’ starting QB, had a pair of TD passes, which were the two 17-yarders going to Payan.
“I’m pleased about coming out of this scrimmage healthy more than anything and us being ready to line up next week against a storied program such as McAllen Memorial,” Hanna coach Mark Guess said. “We still have to look at film, but I think our guys are hungry (to get going).
“Our guys still remember last year’s (34-32) loss to Edinburg Vela in the playoffs that was so close (on a 54-yard field goal with 24 seconds left),” Guess added. “The memory of that loss is what’s been driving them.
“Of course, we have some holes to fill on the offensive side of the ball and a couple more on the defensive side. (But) we’re going to get after it and be ready for next Thursday night in our season opener.”
Mancias scored on runs of 20 and 12 yards before Campos hit Payan with a 17-yard scoring strike in the controlled portion of the scrimmage. PSJA Memorial made in 3-1 in the controlled portion by scoring on a 60-yard pass play on a deep route. The Hanna pass defender fell down on the play.
In game situations, the first touchdown was recorded by Hanna’s Isaac Iracheta, who intercepted a PSJA Memorial pass and returned it 20 yards to the end zone. A 29-yard field goal by Payan, a 5-yard run by Mancias and a 30-yard pass from Payan to Meyers made it 24-0 before the Wolverines recovered a Hanna fumble and eventually scored on a 23-yard field goal to make it 24-3.
The 17-yard TD pass from Campos to Payan early in the final quarter completed the scoring.