STAFF REPORT
Tommy Lee earned his first victory as Sharyland Pioneer’s head coach, but not without a little drama toward the end.
The Diamondbacks eventually held on for a 31-29 win over the La Joya Juarez-Lincoln Huskies, who fell to 0-2 at Richard Thompson Stadium in Mission.
“It’s been a long time,” Lee said. “It was an offense-defense-special teams game all the way.”
The Diamondbacks (1-1) held on to a two-point lead late in the fourth quarter, while the Huskies missed a field goal attempt and fumbled away a later possession after Pioneer initially coughed up the football.
“I tell you what, our defense played unbelievable in the second half,” Lee said. “Lucky for us, we were the last ones to recover a turnover in the game.”
That fumble recovery fell into the hands of Alonzo Ibarra, allowing Pioneer to kneel and run out the clock.
Pioneer’s victory was by no means pretty. The Diamondbacks trailed 29-19 going into halftime and finished the game with seven offensive turnovers.
“We could have very easily caved in,” Lee said. “We had five turnovers in the first half, and we were only down 10 points, so we thought we were still in a good enough position. The kids just fought hard for each other.”
MISSION HIGH 56, DONNA NORTH 12: At Mission, the Eagles stayed high above the competition, trouncing the Chiefs on home turf.
After what coach Koy Detmer called a slow start, the playmakers were out in full force for Mission, which is hot off a victory over rival Mission Veterans in Week 1.
Steve Villarreal had a pair of interceptions as well as a couple of catches on offense. Sebastian Gonzalez was another playmaker who impacted more than just one area of the game.
“We got going after some mishaps that held us back early, played really well offensively and defensively, and did some good things in special teams, as well,” Detmer said.
The Eagles top two running backs — Horacio Moronta and Andrew Maldonado — “popped big runs,” according to Detmer. Perimeter play was key for Mission, which gave action to both of its quarterbacks — Damian Gomez and Jeremy Duran.
“Al Tijerina had a really nice game tonight,” Detmer said. “Sebastian Gonzalez did a really nice job tonight. He had a couple of catches, a touchdown on a catch, and a kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half, so he had a big night, as well. Everybody got involved, which is good.”
PSJA HIGH 55, CORPUS CHRISTI KING 45: At Pharr, the Bears had a big first half for a second week in a row. The Bears also took their foot off the gas for a second straight week. This time, they kept scoring and hold off their northern visitors.
“We kind of relaxed again. Kind of had that Flour Bluff syndrome, we kind of let them come back,” coach Lupe Rodriguez said. “Fortunately, we scored enough in the first half and the second to pull out the win.”
The second-year coach said the prescription to the aforementioned syndrome of letting teams creep back in during the second half is putting their foot on the gas even when up big.
“Just having that mentality in the second half of not relaxing,” Rodriguez said. “(We) just didn’t have that killer instinct to put the team away. We learned a valuable lesson again.”
“Tonight, all four of our receivers scored several times,” Rodriguez said. “It was the first time in a long time that all our receivers got into the end zone. Miguel Flores, Justin Morales, Ethan Castillo, Marco Guajardo — they all scored.”
LA JOYA HIGH 49, ROMA 0: At La Joya, the Coyotes dominated another western Valley program this week, this time against the Battle of Starr County champions.
Coach Reuben Farias said every facet of his team was clicking.
“We had a pretty good turnout. Our defense played outstanding. So did out special teams,” Farias said. “Irving Zamora returned a punt return, took it to the house. (We) picked up a fumble, almost took it to the house. Eddie (Villarreal) scored twice, I think.”
La Joya High quarterback J.R. Rodriguez is running the option well, according to Farias.
“Today, we had success both ways,” Farias said. “The expectations were high. We have a lot of returning lettermen both sides — key players. It’s good that we’re playing confident, capitalizing on the mistakes that their offense makes, and that their defense makes.”
LAREDO ALEXANDER 24, WESLACO EAST 6: At Weslaco, Alexander pulled away against East, dropping the Wildcats to 0-2 on the young season.
CORPUS CHRISTI MOODY 7, EDINBURG ECONOMEDES 0: At Corpus Christi, Moody scored with less then two minutes remaining in the first half, and the Jaguars move to 1-1 in 2018.
BROWNSVILLE ST. JOSEPH 26, PROGRESO 0: At Progreso, the Bloodhounds got back on track after a loss in Week 1, dropping the Red Ants to 1-1 on the year.
LA JOYA PALMVIEW 37, RIO GRANDE CITY 29: At Rio Grande City, La Joya Palmview jumped ahead 31-7 and held on long enough to pull an upset of Rio Grande City (0-2) in the Rattlers’ home opener.
“We knew that they had to come out and play like themselves,” La Joya Palmview coach Margarito Requenez said.
Senior running back Mario Chapa led the way for his offense with three rushing touchdowns. La Joya Palmview (1-1) will host Brownsville Porter next week.
“We’re both different teams compared to last year. They won a game last week and we won a district game this week,” Requenez said. “We’ve glad to get this monkey off our backs.”
DONNA HIGH 30, PSJA SOUTHWEST 14: At Donna, Donna High took advantage of early turnovers and quarterback Ryan Espinoza ran for two scores to help his team improve to 2-0.
“They’ve got some talent and some big boys on that team,” Donna High coach Ramiro Leal said of PSJA Southwest. “They fumbled the ball a few times running their option, so we got the ball deep in their field position, and that helped us out a lot. It wasn’t pretty, but an ugly win is better than a pretty loss.”
The Javelinas drop to 0-2 on the young season.
RAYMONDVILLE 55, GRULLA 28: At Raymondville, Grulla moves to 1-1 in non-district play.
LYFORD 20, HIDALGO 17: At Hidalgo, Hidalgo is still searching for its first win of the year, but playing Lyford close is a step in the right direction for the Pirates.