BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Bryan Chavez and Michael McHale both scored three touchdowns and linebacker Christian De La Garza played lights out on defense to lead the Chargers to a 47-15 District 16-5A DI win Friday night over Harlingen South at Brownsville Veterans game field.
The win creates a three-way tie atop District 16-5A DI, but the Chargers can come out as the top seed with a win next week and a Harlingen South win as well.
“Super proud of them, great resiliency. We had some adversity and battled through it,” Brownsville Veterans head coach Kelley Lee said. “Our coaches made great adjustments, our players bought into it and our defense was phenomenal in the second half.”
Brownsville Veterans quarterback Reece Sampayo scored from a yard after De La Garza’s interception put the Chargers inside the Hawks 5-yard line to cap off the scoring at 47-15.
Brownsville Veterans went up 34-15 with an 11-yard rushing touchdown by McHale deep in the third quarter. McHale then scored a 38-yard touchdown run to put the Chargers up 41-15. McHale scored three touchdowns on his first four touches.
Chavez scored his third touchdown from 14 yards. Brownsville Veterans benefited off of good field position following a fumble by the Hawks on their opening drive in the second half.
Sampayo drove the Chargers down the field to put Brownsville Veterans up before halftime. Sampayo completed three passes including a 35-yard throw to Gerry Gomez. He capped off the drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to McHale, giving the Chargers a 20-15 lead.
De La Garza ended Harlingen South’s chances of scoring before the half after the Hawks drove deep into Chargers territory. Back-to-back sacks by De La Garza halted Harlingen South.
After going down 14-8, Harlingen South’s Carlos Moss Boss broke a 93-yard touchdown to put the Hawks back up 15-14 halfway through the second quarter.
“We played hard. Unfortunately, we came out had some turnovers that did not help and penalties that killed some drives,” Harlingen South head coach Israel Gonzalez said.
A fumble by Harlingen South helped set up Chavez’s second touchdown. The Hawks fumbled at their own 6-yard line and Chavez did the rest from 3 yards.
Chavez scored his first touchdown on the Chargers opening drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. A 15-yard run by Chavez and a 18-yard reception by Gomez helped set up the touchdown.
Chavez scored his first touchdown on the Chargers opening drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. A 15-yard run by Chavez and a 18-yard reception by Gomez helped set up the touchdown.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial (7-2, 4-1) ends the season against Brownsville Lopez (1-8. 1-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville. Harlingen South (6-3, 3-1) takes on Donna High at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Boggus Stadium in Harlingen.