NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — PSJA High drew first blood on homecoming night, but Mission High had plans to spoil the party in a dominant upset victory at PSJA Stadium Friday night in Pharr.
Mission rode huge gains on offense, big stops on defense and a momentum-shifting special teams play to a 24-7 win in front of a big crowd.
The Eagles (7-2, 4-2) improved their playoff chances and handed the Bears (6-3, 5-1) their first loss since falling on the road to San Benito before district matches began.
Trey Guajardo was dynamic on the Bears first drive. He moved the chains with designed runs in the early going, then made something out of nothing on a screen pass to running back J.R. Vasquez, who turned a great individual effort with a 62-yard receiving touchdown.
Not many in attendance expected the Bears offense, which had been averaging 36.8 points per game entering Week 10, to stop scoring after their first drive, but the Eagles stood tall.
Following the opening score, both teams traded empty possessions.
Then came the block.
With Jared DeLeon in position to boot away his second punt, Mission’s Justin Soto broke loose and rejected the kick. DeLeon landed on the ball at his own 20-yard line.
“The main thing we want to do is make it to the playoffs, that’s the reason we played how we did. I just want to do everything I can to help the team,” Soto said. “That block felt amazing.”
Soto wasn’t done there. He put in a monster effort including two sacks of Guajardo.
“We just talked about staying in that one-week-at-a-time mentality,” Mission coach Koy Detmer said. “Down this stretch run, there’s a lot of talk about playoff standings and all those kind of things, and being able to block all that out and stay focused on that one week at a time. I’m really proud of my guys for doing that and they played one heck of a game.”
Getting to Guajardo was vital to Mission’s success. The prolific passer rarely had a chance to sit in the pocket and did most of his work rolling out of pressure. He was sacked six times and was slow to get off the turf on a couple of occasions.
The Bears often faced third- or fourth-and-long situations that became predictable, incomplete passing attempts.
“It was just shutting down their receivers and being disciplined on defense,” Mission running back and linebacker Tito Moronta said. “(The key was) staying with our assignments and knowing what we had to do to stop them.”
Moronta was a big catalyst on offense for the Eagles. He started the scoring with a 5-yard run that he bounced to the outside on the drive set-up by the blocked punt.
Everything else he did was on big plays. At the end of the third quarter, Mission quarterback Jeremy Duran hit Moronta in stride on a slant route that became a 44-yard scoring play.
The Eagles’ scoring flurry arrived in crunch time.
Rene Rodriguez kicked home a 26-yard field goal then Moronta sealed the game with a long run from midfield to send the visiting crowd into a frenzy.
The freshman quarterback, Duran, was efficient at 12-for-18 passing and 189 yards. He and the Eagles were turnover free.
“It wasn’t about outpacing them, it was just trying to outsmart them,” Eagles quarterback Jeremy Duran said. “We knew they were going to come in here a little bit cocky-ish because they were 6-0 and nobody had really given them a test. We just tried to do our best and tried to outsmart them. We came out humbled-minded and we just came to play.”
PSJA High is still in prime position to win 30-6A outright. They are the only one-loss team in the district and face winless La Joya Juarez-Lincoln in Week 11.
Mission High, McAllen Memorial and PSJA North have identical 4-2 records but all three from that group have already met head-to-head.
The Eagles take on La Joya High next week, which will look to bounce back from an overtime loss to McAllen Rowe.