By Jesus Sanchez | The Brownsville Herald
The 22nd installment of the Battle of Southmost was a fight to the finish that intensified in its last seconds until the Lopez Lobos halted the Porter Cowboys’ attack to win 21-14.
“First and foremost, that’s a great team,” Lopez head coach Armando Gutierrez said. “They’re up and coming; they gave us a ballgame but at the same time, we made mistakes to keep them in the ballgame.
“When it came down to the clutch, our defense locked it down in that last possession. We’re really blessed that we were able to do that but our defense kept us in this game.”
Lopez dominated the first half shutting out Porter and scoring on its first two drives.
Lobo quarterback Jose M. Cruz ran for 22 yards to put Lopez up on the board first.
In the Lobos’ next possession, Cruz found wide receiver Andrew Flores on a 59-yard pass in the end zone to put Lopez up by two touchdowns with 5:09 in the first quarter.
The series that followed saw the Lopez defense shut down Porter’s offense, not allowing the Cowboys to get more than 69 yards in the first half.
At halftime, Porter quarterback Kevin Garcia said he had a talk with the Cowboys to help motivate them to come out stronger in the second half.
Porter head coach Carlos Uresti said despite the loss, the Cowboys showed they have heart and should not be taken lightly.
“Heck of a game; that’s kind of what you expect from the Battle of Southmost, a tight battle,” he said. “Records go out the window in this because we came in with the same record. All credit to the coaches and the players; they did a good job executing. We started off a little slow in the first half, regrouped, made some adjustments and executed a little better.”
The Cowboys were first to hit paydirt in their first possession of the second half on an 11-yard pass from Garcia to Matthew Sandoval.
Porter followed up with a strong defensive performance of its own, stopping Lopez twice and only giving up 27 yards.
The Cowboys ate up most of the clock in the third with a consistent ground attack until Garcia found the end zone again in the last quarter on a 9-yard run, tying the game 14-14.
Afterward, the Lobos and Cowboys fought neck and neck to see who would take the lead.
“We were confident in the game,” Cruz said. “We should have kept moving the ball. They couldn’t stop our running. I was concerned on our fumbles but I kept that off. As a team, we grew, we grew and we grew; we stayed confident in ourselves, but as a team, as a family, we all came together to get that win.”
Ultimately, the Lobos’ defense put a stop to Porter’s last-minute flurry that allowed Lopez’ Christian Gamez to score on a 1-yard rush, giving the visiting team the lead with 29 seconds left in the game.
After two rekicks and multiple pass interference penalties from Lopez, Porter gave it one last shot with a deep pass from Garcia intended for Christopher Cardenas that was swatted away by Lobo Luis Hernandez.
“We had two straight games where the game is there,” Uresti said. “At least, you know, that’s all we can ask for from the kids. Being in the games at the end and we’ve been in the games at the end in the last two games, we just have to be ready to execute and finish the game off right.”
The Lopez coach said he knows the Lobos were in a fight Saturday night, but the team’s mentality going forward will remain the same, taking it one game at a time.
“We tell these kids, we’re going to get adversity from everyone because this is a tough district,” Gutierrez said. “Week in and week out, we have to take those challenges as they come and move forward like we did tonight.”
As for Porter, Garcia warned the upcoming competition to be ready and not sleep on the Cowboys.
“Right now, our goal is to get back to practice Monday and get ready for whoever we’re playing next,” the sophomore quarterback said. “Whomever we’re playing next, get ready. We’re getting better and better.
“We’re not going to come easy and we don’t care who it is, we don’t care who they are, we’re Porter, we’re Southmost, we’re carrying pride and we’re coming for you.”