By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
Nothing seems to be deterring the Mission Veterans Memorial Patriots on their way to capturing another District 16-5A Division I championship in football.
The Patriots won their fourth straight district game with a 49-0 triumph against the Porter Cowboys on Friday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Mission Veterans improved to 4-1 on the season and 4-0 in district with Friday’s victory. Porter slipped to 2-3, 1-3.
It was the Patriots’ defense that got things going after Mission Veterans’ first two drives went into the red zone but resulted in no points.
The Patriots’ Arath Ibanez scooped up a Porter fumble and returned it 60 yards to the end zone for Mission Veterans’ initial score with 3:52 showing in the first quarter. It was 7-0 for the Patriots entering the second period, and they didn’t waste any more time in getting their offense on track.
“Once our offense got going and our defense got a little fire in their bellies, we were able to make some good things happen,” Mission Veterans coach David Gilpin said. “We told our starters with seven minutes left in the third quarter (and leading 49-0 that we were going to start putting in the reserves). It’s always a good feeling as a coach when you can give your guys playing time.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for what Porter is doing over here this year,” Gilpin added. “They’re a different ballclub than past seasons. I know the score tonight is not indicative of that. Porter is going to be a handful down the line for some of these teams in our district.
“They have to regroup now, and I understand that. Best of luck to them.”
After a quiet opening period offensively, Mission Veterans scored five touchdowns during the second quarter, including four within the final 6:36 before halftime.
Porter didn’t help its cause by losing four fumbles during the opening half.
The Patriots were led again by sophomore quarterback Ricky Reyna, who threw three TD passes and rushed for another score.
The score was 42-0 at intermission and 49-0 going into the fourth quarter.
It became 14-0 when Isaiah Flores caught a 5-yard TD pass from Reyna with 10:27 showing during the second period.
Then, during the final 6:36 of the second period, Flores scored on a 2-yard run, Mike Gonzaque caught scoring passes of 5 and 33 yards from Reyna, and Reyna went into the end zone himself from 1 yard out.
Gonzaque’s second TD reception — the 33-yarder — came with 29 seconds remaining in the second period and made the score 42-0 at the break.
The Patriots began bringing in their reserves midway through the third period after Erick Estrada’s 1-yard TD run increased the lead to 49-0 with 7:34 left in the third quarter.
Mission Veterans was coming off last week’s 38-21 district win against Rio Grande City. Porter was coming off last week’s 48-23 “Battle of Southmost” victory against Lopez.