By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
Befitting an intense city rivalry, the Pace Vikings and Porter Cowboys brought a lot of energy to the football field on Thursday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
As the two ballclubs battled in their District 16-5A Division I opener of 2018, the Vikings were the ones feeling a little more energized at the end as they came away with a 34-14 victory.
Pace (1-1, 1-0 district) was led by quarterback Brandon Zapata , who rushed for two touchdowns and passed for a pair of scores.
“We were making some mistakes by ourselves in the first half, and we were hurting ourselves,” Zapata said. “We fixed those mistakes and dominated in the second half.
“It’s a great feeling (to win this game),” Zapata added. “It means we’re starting off district pretty good.”
Pace coach Danny Pardo shared Zapata’s sentiments.
“It’s always good to start off 1-0 (in district),” the Pace coach said. “We made some mistakes and we didn’t look all that great in the first half. Porter’s getting a lot better, so it was good that we came back (stronger in the second half). A win is a win.”
It was a back-and-forth first half, but the final two quarters belonged to the Vikings.
Pace went up 13-0 by the end of the opening quarter.
A 29-yard scoring pass from Zapata to Ilijah Solis and the extra point by Jovany Garcia made it 7-0 with 6:30 to go in the initial period.
Just 16 seconds later it became 13-0 when Porter fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Pace’s Silver Macias scooped up the ball and returned it 8 yards to the end zone for a touchdown at the 6:14 mark of the quarter.
Porter came back in the second period to take a 14-13 lead. First, running back Ulises Guzman raced 32 yards to the end zone on a draw play before Cowboys QB Kevin Garcia was chased from the pocket and scrambled 29 yards on his way to crossing the goal line.
Oscar Garcia’s extra point after Kevin Garcia’s score with 4:54 left until halftime gave the Cowboys a 14-13 edge.
The Vikings put together a 14-play, 96-yard drive to retake the lead when Zapata went across the goal line from 1 yard out with 44 seconds left until intermission. Jovany Garcia’s kick made it 20-14, which was the score at the break.
Zapata rushed for a 5-yard TD at the 7:22 mark of the third period and threw an 80-yard scoring bomb to Jaylun Garcia with 8:26 remaining to account for the final score of 34-14, thanks to two more Jovany Garcia extra points.
Pardo said Jose Banda, Pace’s usual starting QB, was held out for precautionary, injury-related reasons. He’ll be back next week, Pardo said.
The top ground gainer Thursday was Pace’s Dylan Barron with 107 yards rushing on 12 carries.
The Vikings have now won their district matchups with Porter for three straight years with all of the games being played at Sams. The Vikings prevailed over the Cowboys 56-34 last season and 32-14 in 2016. The Cowboys’ last win over the Vikings in the series came in 2015 at Sams when Porter prevailed 28-21.
Porter (1-1, 0-1 district) snapped a 22-game losing streak last Friday by downing Port Isabel 14-3 in the Cowboys’ season opener. Pace was coming off last Friday’s season-opening 20-17 overtime loss at Sharyland High.
District 16-5A Division I action continues next week for both teams. Donna High takes on Pace at Sams next Thursday and Porter is at La Joya Palmview next Friday.