LOS FRESNOS — The Los Fresnos Falcons came alive late, but it wasn’t quite enough to overtake the El Paso Montwood Rams on Friday night in the season opener for both ballclubs at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium.
The Falcons fell behind 16-0 before rallying to pull within three points in the 16-13 loss to the visiting District 1-6A Rams, who made an 800-plus-mile journey to the Rio Grande Valley to pick up the victory.
“It’s kind of what I thought (it might be like),” Los Fresnos coach Patrick Brown said of the contest. “Our defense is very solid, and we’ve got a lot of returnees there. Our offense is still growing up (as we showed in this game).
“The reason we schedule teams like Montwood is so we can get better and get prepared for the playoffs,” Brown added. “If people don’t think that teams from the RGV and El Paso can play football, (they’re mistaken).”
Montwood led 7-0 after one quarter and 16-0 at intermission. The Falcons made it 16-6 by the end of the third period and added a second touchdown with 2:17 left in suffering the three-point setback.
“This is only going to make us better,” Brown said. “We have to see how our seniors are going to respond to this (result). It’s not the first time we’re going to lose. There’s never a good loss, but sometimes, you have to find out where your grit is.”
Montwood quarterback Jason Fernandez scrambled 13 yards to the end zone when he was forced from the pocket to give the Rams their first score with 1:06 left during the opening period. Ricardo Olague’s kick made it 7-0.
Olague converted a 43-yard field goal at the 5:20 mark of the second quarter to make it 10-0.
The lead became 16-0 with 39 seconds left in the opening half when Efren Young bulled his way into the end zone from 1 yard out. The extra point was blocked.
All the scoring belonged to Los Fresnos during the second half.
Falcons QB Sergio Martinez scored on a 1-yard keeper with 1:36 to go during the third quarter to make it 16-6 as the extra point failed.
Los Fresnos wide receiver Nico Valencia caught a Martinez pass over the middle and raced into the end zone untouched for a 22-yard scoring play with 2:17 left. Marco Moreno added the point-after kick to make it 16-13.
Los Fresnos plays host to Austin LBJ next Friday at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium.