NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — The first cold front in the Valley this fall, with temperatures in the 60s and a light drizzle threatened to knock two pass-first offenses off their game when PSJA High and McAllen Rowe met at PSJA Stadium in Pharr on Thursday night.
The No. 4-ranked Bears and the top passing offense in the Valley didn’t let any weather slow them down, however, en route to a 48-21 win over the visiting Warriors.
PSJA High moves to 4-0 and quarterback Trey Guajardo’s season touchdown total increased to 23 thanks to his six-touchdown performance.
“We started off real strong and that’s what we’ve been trying to do since last week against (McAllen) Memorial,” Guajardo said. “Great start. We want to keep the same pace going because we don’t want to be in those situations anymore. We want to ease through these games.”
The first quarter was dynamite for the Bears. Guajardo found Miguel Flores on passes from 56 and 16 yards on the first two drives. Flores added a third receiving score before the night was through.
On the Bears third drive, Guajardo found a new target, his cousin Marco Guajardo, to connect on a long catch and run from midfield.
“It was important to score early because that’s when the rain wasn’t coming out yet,” Ethan Castillo said. “We knew we had to start out hot. We came out strong, a little flat to end the half and to start (the second half) but we finished it off strong. Shout out to the defense, shout out to the line and shout out to the quarterback.”
The first quarter was a completely different tale than the middle quarters. Rowe outscored PSJA 21-7 in the second and third quarters.
Jonas Ortiz had two touchdown passes to Ruben Salinas, and Lalo Bosquez muscled his way in from short yardage with a jumbo formation.
The Achilles’ heel for Rowe (4-3, 2-2) was again turnovers and missteps. Ortiz hit two touchdowns but also threw two interceptions, into the southern wind, that halted Rowe’s momentum.
Running back J.R. Vasquez scored from 7 yards out to start the shutdown fourth quarter for the Bears, who played like they had a message to send late.
Ortiz’s second picked-off pass, when Rowe’s comeback hopes were still plausible, was snagged by an unlikely defender…Trey Guajardo.
The lengthy return to the 12-yard line set up another passing score, to Justin Morales, for the senior gunslinger turned ball hawk. Or is it ball hawk turned gunslinger?
“I used to, back in my freshman year, play a little bit of safety,” Trey Guajardo said. “When coach (Tommy) Saucedo, our defensive coordinator asked coach Lupe (Rodriguez) about possibly throwing me in there he was a little bit hesitant. But he knew we were going to do what’s best for the team. There’s no doubt that me playing both ways, I’m perfectly fine with. As long as I can get this team to win, that’s all I really care about.”
PSJA’s slower quarters of offense was characterized by a parade of yellow flags and 5-yard setbacks. The Bears were flagged for 12 false starts and 19 penalties overall.
“As a team our coach always tells us we don’t give up on each other,” Castillo said. “Our linemen, I know they were struggling early. We let them develop and I know we tried out other centers but it’s all right. We put our money on our starter to finish out the game and he finished it out strong.”
Castillo was the last receiver to score for PSJA in the game. Getting him a touchdown on his birthday was a point of emphasis.
His 15-yard score late in the fourth was manufactured through some hard-nosed running after the reception.
“I finally hit him and that was all him,” Guajardo said. “You saw him break all those tackles; he wanted to get in that end zone. That’s the thing about these receivers, they might be undersized, but they have tremendous heart. They do a lot to get in the end zone.”