KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
With the marathon that is District 16-5A Division I underway and on a Saturday night when defense dominated play, it was the final drive from the Brownsville Pace Vikings — directed by quarterback Jose Banda — that made the difference.
Banda orchestrated a nine-play, 70-yard drive that set up sophomore kicker Christian Zapata, who drilled a 41-yard field goal that proved to be enough in a 17-14 victory over crosstown rival Brownsville Porter on Saturday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“We are fortunate to have won this one. We gave Porter every opportunity,” Pace coach Daniel Prado said. “We had had a fumble here and some penalties, but we were good enough tonight to be able to come out with a win.”
Porter quickly responded to the late field goal with a drive led by Kevin Garcia to have an opportunity late. With 12 seconds left, Garcia threw up a 50-50 ball to Brandon Reta, who looked to have come down with the ball but was ruled out bounds.
On the next play, Porter’s Rodolfo Armenariz hooked the potential game-tying 34-yard field goad with two seconds remaining.
“We went for the win,” Porter coach Carlos Uresti said. “They were playing man-up on defense with a trips side to the boundary, so we took a shot. I’m not sure if he was out of bounds or not, but we will find out. I’m sure they called it right, but the kids played hard tonight.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Vikings broke the tie with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Banda to Marc Garcia to take a 7-0 lead with 10:15 left in the first half.
Less than five minutes later, the Cowboys tied the game on Gabriel Gonzalez’s touchdown run with 6:27 to play in the half.
In the fourth quarter, Pace took a 14-7 lead with 9:41 left as Dylan Barron barreled his way into the end zone.
Again, though, Porter responded. After recovering a fumble at midfield, the Cowboys marched down the field and tied the game on a 1-yard QB sneak by Kevin Garcia with 5:04 left.
The Vikings move to 1-0 in district play, and Porter is 0-1. With a 10-team district, each team will continue the long schedule, with the Cowboys taking on La Joya Palmview and Pace facing Donna High at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
“Everybody wants to start district with a win,” Uresti said. “Pace is a team that has made the playoffs the last few years, so we went up against a playoff team, and now we will just look forward to our next game and that is Palmview.”
Pace received a strong showing from Banda and sophomore tight end Chase Morales.
“Jose settled down towards the end, and we got a good drive out of him,” Prado said. “We just hope we can get him more comfortable. Any time we play Porter it is tough, regardless. For some reason they play great against us, but we were lucky tonight to get the win and that is all that matters.”