MISSION — This year’s edition of “The Battle of Conway” turned out to be a one-sided affair as the Mission High Eagles overpowered rival Mission Veterans 37-0 on Friday night at Tom Landry Stadium, shutting the Patriots out for the first time since 2012.
“It’s a great start,” Mission head coach Koy Detmer said. “First games of the year are always difficult. Everybody’s 0-0 and you’re going to see their best shot, and then you put the rivalry on top of it. We knew it was going to be a challenging game, but I was proud of the way they got after it tonight.”
The Eagles won the coin-toss, but chose to defer until the second half. Mission High still ended up putting points on the scoreboard first as the Eagles defense forced a safety on a botched punt attempt by the Patriots in their own end zone. With momentum in hand after the opening drive, Mission High jumped all over the Patriots.
The Eagles’ offense soared through the air and pounded the rock on the ground as the balanced attack of quarterback Jeremy Duran and the backfield of Tito Moronta and Andrew Maldonado went to work. Duran finished the game with three touchdown passes, Moronta had one score on the ground, and Maldonado made visits to the house twice — first on a 1-yard plunge, and second on a 64-yard reception that was improvised by the fullback and quarterback.
What seemed like a pass play about to break down turned into Duran rushing toward the line of scrimmage, but finding Maldonado out of the corner of his eye at the last second to connect for the longest score of the night.
“It was a big game for the community and it was fun to come out here and do what we had to do. We wanted to keep the offense balanced, short gains, keep the chains moving, then go up top,” Maldonado said.
The sophomore quarterback Duran, who also threw touchdowns to seniors Stevie Villarreal and Rey Garcia, admitted he came into this one with a chip on his shoulder, but he was excited to bring home a big win for Mission High, the second in a row in the rivalry for the Eagles.
“We just ran it down their throats, forcing them to bring guys into the box, and they let me throw the ball and things happened,” Duran said. “We’ve been telling everybody all year that Mission isn’t here to mess around. We’re here to win games. This is a big exclamation point on all the things we’ve been saying, so Mission’s ready.”
Defensively, the Eagles double-teamed Mission Veterans’ biggest offensive threat in receiver AJ Gonzaque. That kept him from getting going, and without Mikey Garcia due to injury, the Patriots couldn’t put plays together to sustain a drive. Sophomore quarterback Ricky Reyna showed flashes as a runner, but the Mission High pass rush was too much for the QB making his first start.
Mission Veterans head coach David Gilpin said there were no positives to take away, other than it being a non-district game, but he said he’s confident his team will pick itself back up and be ready to go next week as they begin District 16-5A DI play.
“They beat us soundly, they beat us badly, they beat us in every phase of the game, including coaching,” Gilpin said. “Mission’s a good football team. They were very physical with us. We knew stopping Tito and Andrew was going to be the key, and we showed flashes, but there were other times they ran through tackles. … We got our work to do, but we’ll get our work done and we’ll be ready to go next week.”
The Patriots are set to host PSJA Memorial in Week 2 at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 6 at Tom Landry Stadium.
Next up for Mission High is a non-district road game against Donna North at 7:30 p.m. on the same day at Bennie LaPrade Stadium in Donna.