By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers are following a path that is leading straight to the state playoffs in District 16-5A Division I football.
The Chargers captured their fourth district win in a row Thursday night with a 9-6 triumph over Donna High at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The standout of the game for the Chargers was senior kicker Israel Barron, who converted three field goals including a 47-yarder that set a school record.
“I’ve been waiting for a moment like this (so I could help us win the game and make a school-record kick), and it feels very good,” said Barron, who previously had a game-winning kick for the Chargers as a sophomore. “I’m glad that I made those kicks (especially the 47-yarder).
“It was a great win,” Barron added. “It was a team effort, and the team did a great job.”
Brownsville Veterans improved to 6-1 overall and 5-1 in district. Donna High, nurturing its own hopes for the postseason, slipped to 4-3 and 3-3.
The two teams staged a defensive struggle throughout the game as the only points of the first half were scored on the 47-yard field goal by Barron with 3:36 left before intermission.
Barron’s kick barely made it over the crossbar, but it was good enough to provide the home team with a 3-0 advantage at halftime.
The 47-yard field goal broke the previous school record of 42 yards.
Barron added field goals of 37 and 27 yards during the third quarter to make it 9-0.
Donna High scored on a 24-yard pass from Ryan Espinoza to Eddie Villarreal with 6:40 left in the game to close the gap to 9-6. The extra point after the touchdown was botched, leaving the Chargers with a three-point advantage that lasted until the end.
The Redskins had a number of penalties, particularly procedure calls and false starts, that hurt their chances.
Chargers coach David Cantu was pretty pumped up after it was all over.
“This was one of my favorite games as a coach,” Cantu said. “I love these types of games because it’s just both teams competing hard and just doing everything they can to win.
“It was a great job by Israel tonight in helping us get the victory,” Cantu added. “We see him make field goals like that every day in practice. He deserves this moment.”
Regarding his team’s playoff situation, the Brownsville Veterans coach said, “I think we’re getting close (to clinching a postseason berth). We’ll look at it now and see. With five district wins, I would hope that it would get us in. It depends on what happens with the other teams in our district (though). Maybe by Saturday we’ll know for sure.”
Brownsville Veterans was coming off last week’s open date after defeating Porter 39-3 at Sams on Oct. 5. Donna High lost at home to Mission Veterans 56-28 last week and enjoyed an open date the previous week.
The Chargers beat the Redskins 27-0 in district a year ago.
District action continues next week for both teams as Brownsville Veterans travels to PSJA Southwest and Donna High plays host to Rio Grande City.