BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
MERCEDES — Mercedes senior quarterback Israel Alegria had been nursing shoulder and wrist injuries since the end of August.
The injuries hampered Alegria enough for him to miss Mercedes’ last two games, but they weren’t about to get in the way of him suiting up against rival Edcouch-Elsa.
“Not this game,” Alegria said. “It’s an important game, not just because we were playing Edcouch, but because it’s our first district game. We’re trying to get off to a good start in district play. Whatever it took, it didn’t matter. I wore three pads today. I wanted to be out there, play my game and not be scared of injury. I didn’t want anything to stop me.”
Alegria’s return sparked the Mercedes offense. His three touchdown passes — one to Sammy Galindo, another to Josiah Cantu and the game-winning connection to Sonny Vela to start the fourth quarter — propelled the Tigers (2-3, 1-0) to a 23-16 victory over the Yellow Jackets on Friday night.
“Israel told me all week, ‘Coach, there’s no way you’re going to keep me off the field,’” Mercedes coach Roger Adame Jr. said. “We felt him coming back was going to give us a spark. You could see that he still had a little rust on him, but our coaches did a tremendous job getting him prepared, studying the film and executing the game plan.”
Alegria’s first two touchdown passes put the Tigers up 15-6 late in the first quarter, but the offense hit a brick wall. Mercedes was held scoreless in the second and third quarters.
“That’s been the story of the season,” Adame Jr. said. “We put up points, and then we hurt ourselves with penalties and turnovers. But for these men to come back and fight through those mistakes is something special. These kids are resilient, and that’s what it means to play for Mercedes. This win is going to mean a lot to us going forward.”
Edcouch-Elsa (1-4, 0-1) scored its first offensive touchdown on a 7-yard scamper from running back Jay Cardenas in the second quarter.
Cardenas, who ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns against Edinburg North in Week 4, didn’t have the same success against the Tigers. He finished with 31 rushing yards on 15 carries.
“Any time a team knows you’re going to run the ball, they’re going to load the box,” Edcouch-Elsa coach Bradly Chavez said. “We’ve got to make plays on the outside, and we didn’t make enough of them tonight. We didn’t complete the ball to the guys that were wide open. Jay can only do so much. What we can’t do is rely on one person to win a game for us. We all have to do our one-eleventh.”
E-E received several gifts from Mercedes via bad snaps. The Tigers snapped a ball that went over Alegria’s head and was recovered by the Jackets in the end zone. Another poor snap on a fourth-down punt led to Mercedes running the ball out of bounds at its own 3-yard line.
The Yellow Jackets offensive line piled on the penalties in the red zone, leading to an Angel Crispin field goal that gave Edcouch-Elsa its first lead at 16-15 in the third quarter.
“What I saw tonight was a lack of discipline,” Chavez said. “I think what happened is that there are guys in this rivalry that didn’t keep their composure at times. Our kids knew what to do. We practiced those stems and shifts. If you don’t get it done, you don’t get it done.”
Mercedes’ win extended its winning streak over Edcouch-Elsa to five games. The Tigers now have the edge in the all-time series versus the Yellow Jackets: 33 wins, 32 losses and one tie.
“It’s a lot for the fans to get into,” Alegria said. “The fans came out for the game. The atmosphere was big tonight. You have to step up in these types of games. The games are only going to get bigger and bigger as the season goes by.”