GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

PHARR — PSJA Memorial quarterback Michael Gonzalez entered Friday’s game with an injured arm, and PSJA North’s defensive front hounded him from start to finish.

Still, Gonzalez managed to throw for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Combined with a few lucky bounces and a costly muffed punt by North, Gonzalez’s efforts were enough to lift PSJA Memorial to a 23-17 win at PSJA Stadium.

“He showed me what I’ve always known: He’s got a lot of guts, and he’s a leader,” PSJA Memorial coach Gus Cavazos said. “There was never a doubt in my mind about that.”

The injury, which forced Gonzalez to sit out the second half of last Friday’s 34-26 loss against Weslaco East, kept him out of practice for most of the week. Leading up to Friday, Cavazos said Gonzalez would be a game-day decision.

Gonzalez didn’t show any lingering effects. He finished 10-of-24 passing for 146 yards and two scores. He also ran the ball eight times for 25 yards.

“I feel good,” Gonzalez said. “I just need to get ice. Get treatment, and I should be ready to go.”

Gonzalez and Memorial got the scoring started early, as he found Jay Bocanegra for a 38-yard score on a screen pass to give the Wolverines an early 7-0 lead. Bocanegra, Memorial’s leading receiver, caught six passes for 99 yards.

Gonzalez found the end zone again in the third quarter with the help of a little luck. His pass deflected off receiver Isaac Cantu, off PSJA North safety Mike Garza and to receiver John Anthony Saenz, who jogged uncontested the rest of the way for a 17-yard score to tie the game at 17. Fittingly, Saenz slipped on the track during his touchdown celebration.

Gonzalez twice kept the drive alive with quarterback sneaks on fourth down with less than a yard to go.

Memorial got another lucky break midway through the fourth quarter, when PSJA North’s Joey Torres mishandled a punt and Memorial’s Peter Vargas managed to jump on the loose ball.

“That was real nice, it pretty much gave us a secured win,” PSJA Memorial safety Kevin Spears said.

Running back Jonathan Treviño scored on the next play from 15 yards out. The scoring play brought his rushing total up to 9 yards, as he and Memorial’s ground game had been stifled by North’s dominant defensive front. The Wolverines had only 4 rushing yards and two first downs at halftime.

“We knew against a team like this that the offense wasn’t going to be there every single drive,” Cavazos said. “We were able to weather the storm.”

The loss puts both teams at 2-1 in District 31-6A, further muddling the race. Edinburg North and Weslaco East are also 2-1, while Weslaco High stands at 1-1.

PASSING STRUGGLES

PSJA North’s passing offense was completely shut down on Friday, as quarterback George Olivarez failed to complete any of his 9 attempts. He also threw interceptions to Ismael Canizales and Vicente Rodriguez.

“Just read your keys, play hard and go at it, no matter what,” Spears said.

Peña said Memorial gave his team trouble by playing deep halves. Olivarez ran 24 times for 159 yards and a TD, and running back Rene Ramirez carried the ball 30 times for 158 yards and a score, but that was about all the offense North could muster.

“Our secondary has played real well all year long, and they played well again,” Cavazos said.

TWO-WAY PLAYERS

Memorial has been ravaged by injuries this season, and on Friday it forced some players to play two ways.

Treviño was one of those players, taking the majority of the snaps at linebacker in the second half.

“Those boys, they stepped up when we needed them,” Cavazos said.

MISSED CHANCES

North could have pulled out a win were it not for a few critical mistakes. Twice the Raiders killed potential touchdown drives with penalties inside the 10-yard line.

Those drives ended with a combined three points, as one of North’s field-goal attempts was blocked.

The Raiders committed 11 penalties for 85 yards overall.

“It’s tough,” PSJA North coach Jorge Peña said of the unfortunate breaks. “That’s football. That happens. It was just a hard-fought game and they were the better team tonight.”

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GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

When PSJA Memorial coach Gus Cavazos was looking for something to put his offense over the top four years ago, he turned to his longtime friend Jorge Peña.

With a senior team and Peña complimenting a strong staff, Cavazos led the Wolverines to a 9-3 record during the 2010 season.

Peña would stay on the staff at Memorial up until this season, when he took over as the head coach at PSJA North. Now, Cavazos and Peña are set to square off at 7:30 Friday night at PSJA Stadium in The Monitor’s Game of the Week.

“I don’t get caught up in that stuff — I really don’t,” Cavazos said. “It’s not me playing Jorge. It’s Jorge’s kids playing my kids. We’re friends before the game, and we’ll be friends after the game.”

That friendship goes back to the mid-2000s, when Pena was coaching at Hidalgo and Cavazos was at Rio Hondo. Peña still remembers scouting for those games and being blown away by the Bobcats’ talent — part of the reason Cavazos had a 3-0 edge in their head-to-head series.

“When I saw Rio Hondo, I thought I was in the Harlingen Stadium,” Peña said. “I was taken aback a little bit at the 5A level athletes Rio Hondo had back then.”

Cavazos moved to PSJA Memorial in 2008 and brought Peña aboard as his offensive quality control coach in 2010. Peña would provide a lift wherever it was needed, be it quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers or offensive line.

After working with Peña for four years, Cavazos wasn’t surprised to see him lead a turnaround at PSJA North. The Raiders went 0-8 in district play last season but are out to a 2-0 start this year.

“He’s a good friend of mine, he’s a good football coach, and I’m really happy for his success,” Cavazos said. “He’s done a great job over there, just like I knew he would. When he applied, I sang his praises and I told people that he would get their program turned around quickly.”

Peña, who also said there were no extra emotions in the matchup, believes he benefitted from his experience with Cavazos.

“He has a good way of dealing with personnel,” Peña said. “He’s got his own unique style. I picked up some pointers.”

He also picked up an intimate knowledge of PSJA Memorial’s players and system. Peña was hesitant to call it an advantage, but Cavazos knows the familiarity will play a role on both sides.

“The fact that he’s worked with our kids for the last three or four years, he knows exactly what our strengths and weaknesses are,” Cavazos said. “I don’t think we have any secrets from each other. We know what he’s going to do, and he pretty much knows what we’re going to do.”

PSJA Memorial’s offense is going to be especially difficult to get a read on this week, as the status of quarterback Michael Gonzalez is still up in the air due to an arm injury that cost him the entire second half last week against Weslaco East.

“He’ll be a game-day decision,” Cavazos said. “We gave him a few days off, and he’s feeling better. So we’ll see if he’s ready to go in the morning.”

Peña said North has been practicing as if Gonzalez is going to play. The defense is fully healthy, and the group was hitting so hard in practice that Peña ended the day early.

“We had to put a stop to it, because the scout teamers were getting laid out,” Peña said. “It’s one of those deals where, we’re ready.”

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GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

Weslaco East coach Mike Burget has heard the things people are saying about his Wildcats.

Even as East sits at 5-1 overall and 1-1 in District 31-6A heading into Thursday’s matchup against Edinburg Economedes (2-3, 0-1), onlookers have found plenty to be critical about.

For one, East has thrown for just 128 yards this season, the least of any 5A or 6A team in the Valley. But, even trailing by 13 points entering the fourth quarter last week against PSJA Memorial, Burget knew better than to panic. East came back to win 34-26, despite not throwing for a single yard.

“A lot of people have criticized the run teams in the Valley, and I sort of laugh at that,” Burget said. “We do what we’ve done forever. We run the ball. If we’re down, we can throw the ball if we have to. We have a whole quarter to go. We weren’t going to panic. We’re going to do what we do. We feel good about the outcome of the game. We’re 5-1 for a reason.”

Burget hears people saying quarterback Darren Rivas can’t throw. Rivas has run for 425 yards despite being slowed by injury during the early portion of the season, but he has completed just 11 of 32 passes for 128 yards on the year. Still, Burget knows that Rivas has proven himself as a capable passer in practice.

“We’ll be able to throw the ball,” Burget said. “I know people are going to call me a liar or whatever. I don’t really care. I think Darren is a good passer. We’ve been sort of fortunate where we don’t have to use him yet.”

Burget has also heard criticism of his defense, which has allowed 1,369 rushing yards this season, the second most in the district. Yes, he’d like to see a better job of getting off blocks and wrapping up from his young unit. But, at the end of the day: “Teams are only averaging 21 points against us,” Burget said. “That’s not too bad.”

East will be tested on the ground against Economedes. The Jaguars average 220.4 rushing yards per game, good for third in the district.

Economedes is coming off of a bye after falling 34-14 to PSJA Memorial on Sept. 26. Jaguars coach Gabe Peña could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

“Watching them on film they’re like us: They’re big, and they like to run the ball,” Burget said. “They’re a fantastic ball club.”

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GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

With running back Matt Whitesides sidelined due to a sprained ankle, Edinburg North picked up just 142 total yards last week in a 42-0 loss to PSJA North.

Fortunately for North, Whitesides is expected to be back in the lineup for Friday’s game against Edinburg High. He was cleared to return to practice on Monday.

“We’ve got him going,” Edinburg North coach Rene Saenz said. “We don’t want to give him a full workload, but you never know how we come out.”

Despite missing a game, Whitesides ranks as the third-leading rusher in District 31-6A with 616 yards and two scores.

Last season, Whitesides ran for 1,621 yards to go with 17 touchdowns.

Saenz had hoped North would be able to produce without him, but he found that Whitesides was sorely missed.

“I’d like to say it wasn’t that much of an effect, but he’s the team leader on offense,” Saenz said. “We saw what happens when he’s not in the game as far as our level of intensity, our level of commitment to start and finish a play. We look for a different result this week, with him in the lineup.”

WORK IN PROGRESS

After consecutive blowout wins against Mission High and La Joya High, McAllen High earned seven points in the most recent AP poll, good for a 15th-place ranking in the state.

Regardless, coach Kevin Brewer is far from satisfied with his team, which sits at 4-2 overall and 2-0 in District 30-6A.

“I don’t feel like we’re where we need to be,” Brewer said. “We have a lot of things to get better at. Offensively, we’re still not being as efficient as we need to be. … I’m not at all content or satisfied with where we’re at right now.”

Throughout the year, Brewer has been focused on improving the passing game. Quarterback Fred Hover entered last week completing just 44.2 percent of his passes, but he was 12-of-16 passing for 105 yards and three touchdowns in the win against La Joya.

Hover and the Bulldogs have done a better job of limiting turnovers in recent weeks, and the group should only get better with wideout Justin Gonzalez returning from injury last week. His presence will complement McHi’s leading receiver, Ryan Puente, who has 19 catches for 195 yards so far this season.
Puente made just seven catches for 95 yards last season.

“He’s done nothing but step up and do what we need him to do,” Brewer said. “He had a great spring, a great summer and he’s just a little worker, man. He works his tail off to make himself a good football player.”

AIR COYOTES

Quarterback Julio Garcia and wideout Joel Casas have formed the most prolific passing combination in District 30-6A to this point in the season, and coach George Espinoza said the biggest key for both has been the confidence that comes with varsity experience.

Garcia, a second-year starter who ranks second in the district with 698 passing yards, has increased his completion percentage from 39.6 percent last year to 50.5 percent this season. Those completions have averaged 12.9 yards this season, compared to 11.1 yards per completion last year.

“He’s getting his reads,” Espinoza said. “He’s not holding on to the ball as long as he used to. He’s getting a little bit more confident as far as his passing game.”

Casas has been the primary beneficiary, leading the district with 348 yards on 20 catches. He was La Joya’s second leading receiver last year, but with just six catches for 92 yards. Espinoza said Casas’ best attributes are his size, quickness and mentality.

“He’s one of those guys that plays with a lot of confidence,” Espinoza said. “He’s motivated and he wants to do good. He says, ‘Just get it close to me, coach. I’m going to get it.’”

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GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

Although Weslaco High stumbled to a 1-4 start while battling offensive line injuries and a challenging non-district schedule, coach Tony Villarreal believes his team is finally coming together.

The Panthers showed signs of substantial progress on Thursday against Edinburg High, routing the Bobcats 46-0.

That sort of outburst was a significant change for a Weslaco offense that ranked next to last in District 31-6A and had averaged just 15 points per game over the season’s first five weeks. The Panthers had to learn how to overcome the loss of offensive linemen Joe Margo, Jacob Rodriguez and Josue Espinoza.

“We lost three horses, so we had to rebuild the offensive line and play a tough non-conference schedule,” Villarreal said. “We’ve had to overcome all of that. And the offensive line is now coming together, and it’s clicking. The last three weeks, it has played a little bit better.”

Margo, a returning all-district honorable mention who Villarreal said was good enough to play college football, never recovered from a meniscus injury.

Rodriguez suffered a hairline fracture in his back during one of the team’s early scrimmages, costing Villarreal “one of the better centers that I’ve ever had.”

Espinoza has since returned to the lineup, but he missed the first few games due to a torn hamstring.

Down the only three linemen with varsity experience, the Panthers needed time to come together.

“It took a little longer than I expected, but I think it’s because of the tough competition,” Villarreal said. “I really like that our varsity line is now clicking and doing well. … They’ve had to grow up quickly.”

With the offensive line a work in progress, Weslaco has leaned heavily on its defense, which ranked as the best in the district even before Thursday’s shutout.

“We’ve hung our hat on those guys,” Villarreal said. “If we have any kind of an edge on anybody in district, it is the fact that we do have a very good defense.”

Undrae Galindo and Kris Marroquin have provided answers in a secondary that was a question mark coming into the year, and Rene Perez has continued to be a dominant force on the defensive line.

Returning first-team all-district linebacker Brandon Torres is the Panthers’ leading tackler. He has contributed on special teams and even as a fullback, when needed.

“He’s the centerpiece for our defense, and he’s stepped it up,” Villarreal said. “He’s very dynamic.”

STRUGGLING OFFENSE

With Mission High’s offense continuing to struggle, the bye week gives coach Mario Peña a chance to make some changes.
Mission suffered a 14-7 defeat to La Joya Palmview on Friday, the fourth time this season the Eagles have been held to seven points or fewer.

“I am looking at doing some things, actually,” Peña said. “We have to continue to see if we can find something that can trigger the offense to be a little more productive. I’m still tinkering with some changes.”

The struggles have mostly stemmed from the quarterback position. Starter Jesus Cuellar, a senior who was entering his first season of football since junior high, went down with a strained ACL during the first half of Week 1.

Backup William Arias was ineffective in relief, and converted running back David Flores has also had difficulty moving the ball.
Mission has averaged less than 200 yards per game this season.

“We’re struggling on that side of the ball,” Peña said. “Offensively, we’re just not producing the points.”

Peña is hopeful a shuffle in personnel can help him find some playmakers to complement a defense that entered the week ranked second in district.

Peña said the defense created five fumbles with “hard-nosed hits” on Friday. Linebacker Eddie Garcia and safety Allan Martinez have been the standouts.

“We’re playing good defense,” Peña said. “Enough to be in every game, with the exception of one (a 48-7 loss to McAllen High). We’re just going to keep fighting.”

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GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

McALLEN — If there were any questions about the strength of McAllen Memorial after last week’s four-point win against La Joya High, the Mustangs did their best to put them to rest on Friday.

A career-high tying five touchdowns from Trevor Speights highlighted a dominant all-around performance as Memorial trounced McAllen Rowe 58-19 at McAllen Memorial Stadium.

“I guess because of last week’s close game, we lost a lot of believers,” Speights said. “We had to get the believers back, and get the doubters to jump on board. … It was an offensive and defensive beatdown. All phases were there. Passing, rushing, special teams, everything was there. We did our job, and the scoreboard showed it.”

The win moves Memorial to 2-0 in District 30-6A, tying the Mustangs with McAllen High atop the district standings. Rowe drops to 1-1.

As was widely projected before the season, the matchup between Memorial and McHi on Oct. 24 appears likely to decide the district race.

The Mustangs look as ready as ever, with Speights and coach Bill Littleton calling Friday’s offensive showing the team’s strongest yet.

“This is probably the best overall performance for the offense,” Littleton said. “We were clicking throwing the ball, running the ball. We pretty much did a good job in all phases.”

Rowe did everything it could to keep Speights bottled up, allowing only three carries of 10 yards or more in the first half. Unfortunately for the Warriors, all three of those went for scores, as Speights notched touchdowns of 60, 14 and 28 yards over the first 24 minutes.

He touched the ball only twice in the second half and scored on both plays: runs of 24 and 42 yards.

Speights finished the game with 17 carries for 220 yards and five scores. His only previous game with five touchdowns came last season in a 63-56 loss to Weslaco East, when he racked up 300 yards on 23 carries.

“I just try to win the game,” Speights said. “I do whatever the team needs. They needed five touchdowns, so I gave them five touchdowns.”

For the year, Speights now has 1,525 yards and 18 touchdowns.

The Mustangs complimented Speights’ big night with five interceptions on defense. Michael Garza, Jesus Islas, John McGee, Ozzy Salazar and DJ Martinez all had picks for Memorial.

“It was great,” Garza said. “Last week we came out kind of slow. We’ve been slow. But this week we just exploded, and it felt great.”

WARRIORS QUARTERBACKS

Memorial gave Rowe quarterback Hector Bosquez fits in the passing game, as he finished 4-of-10 passing for 41 yards and three interceptions.

John Perez took the majority of the snaps for Rowe but also struggled, finishing 7-of-20 passing for 138 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Rowe coach Paul Reyes said the Warriors got the looks they were expecting from the Mustangs secondary and that receivers got open, but Bosquez and Perez failed to make the throws on time.

“I don’t have any answers for both Hector and John,” Reyes said. “I really don’t. We go over stuff. We look at film. We put them through the same things in practice, and they come out here and just, I don’t know, forget what we talked about and went over.

“I’m dumbfounded as to why they’re making those plays. But we just have to go back and find what we can do.”

MEMORIAL INJURY

McAllen Memorial quarterback Jonathan Sanchez did not dress out for Friday’s game due to injury.

He entered the week ranked second on the team in total offense, having run for 229 yards, thrown for 75 yards and caught two passes for 20 yards during Memorial’s first five games.

Littleton said he did not expect the injury to be a long-term issue.

PASSING GAME

McAllen Memorial continued to use the passing game only sparingly, attempting just eight passes in the win.

Quarterback Fabian Pedraza finished just 4-of-8 passing for 75 yards, including touchdown strikes of 24 and 48 yards to wide receiver DJ Johnson.

They were only the second and third catches of the season for Johnson, who missed the year’s first three games due to injury.

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GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

Although Weslaco East enters Friday’s matchup against PSJA Memorial coming off its first loss of the season, Wolverines coach Gus Cavazos has no less respect for the Wildcats.

“Coming into the season, I thought they would be one of the top teams in the Valley, and I still think they are,” Cavazos said. “It’s going to be a tough game, obviously, for anybody who runs like that.”

The matchup between Weslaco East and PSJA Memorial at 7:30 tonight at Bobby Lackey Stadium will feature District 31-6A’s two leading rushers: PSJA Memorial’s Jonathan Treviño and Weslaco East’s Lupe Moron. The Wolverines will look to move to 2-0 in district, while the Wildcats will look to avoid 0-2 on the heels of last week’s double-overtime loss to Edinburg North.

East’s Week 4 loss came in heartbreaking fashion: Edinburg North opted to go for 2 rather than kick an extra point to send the game to a third overtime. The Wildcats believed they had stopped running back Tito Salazar short, but the referees felt differently, awarding the Cougars the win.

Regardless, East isn’t dwelling on the past.

“We put that game away,” Weslaco East coach Mike Burget said. “If we don’t, we’re going to be 0-2.”

To avoid that fate, Burget wants simply to get back to East football: running the ball and playing solid defense.

Looking across the field, Burget sees a team that aims to do many of the same things. One of the Wildcats’ biggest challenges will be stopping workhorse back Treviño, who ranks second in the district with 644 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.

“We’re going to try to hit him as many times as we can,” Burget said. “Any time you have a good back, you’re going to want to get as many people as you can to the football. Try to wrap up and do a little bit better than we did tackling last week.”

The Wolverines defense will also have its hands full in the running game up against Moron, who leads the district with 896 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns.

“He’s one of those kids that can play anywhere, and he does a great job,” Cavazos said. “He’s very impressive. It’s going to be a chore to try to slow him down.”

If Memorial has any advantage, it’s that they faced a similarly physical, downhill rushing attack last week against Edinburg Economedes. The Wolverines held the Jaguars to 214 rushing yards in a 34-14 win.

“Coming off a tough team like that, it can only help us,” Cavazos said. “Even though offensively they’re not the same, they both like to run. They’re both power football. Hopefully that will help us prepare for this week.”

Whether Memorial can have the same success against East remains to be seen.

“We’re more of a speed-oriented defense, and they’re more of a smash-mouth football offense,” Cavazos said. “Sometimes the smash-mouth wins. Sometimes the speed wins. We’ll have to wait and see what happens on Friday.”

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GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

PHARR — As PSJA North was struggling through a winless season last year, quarterback George Olivarez didn’t get along with then-coach Steve Flores.

As Olivarez says, he and Flores “didn’t see eye to eye.” So Olivarez said he moved himself down to the junior varsity team, where he would have a chance to learn and grow.

This season, a better, more mature Olivarez got a fresh start under new coach Jorge Peña, and he’s delivered. The junior quarterback is the leading passer and rusher on a PSJA North team that is off to a 1-0 start in district play, already eclipsing its win total from last season.

“This year with Peña coming in, he got us all fired up,” Olivarez said. “The atmosphere is just different. … I knew last year it wasn’t the talent, it was just the schemes that we were running. I knew there was talent here all along. Everything is just a lot better this year.”

For Olivarez, developing into a quarterback who could run Peña’s spread offense required wholesale changes. He always had the talent to be successful, but offensive coordinator David Duty, who was on the staff last year, saw that Olivarez had a way to go before he was fully ready to take on the starting role.

“He was a sophomore last year, and he played well for us, but he lacked the maturity to do it,” Duty said. “This year, he really matured as a young man. He’s blossoming as a football player, and he’s blossoming as a human being.”

Peña’s first step to turning around the program was getting everyone to buy in and be unselfish, and that was especially key for Olivarez. As Peña learned from legendary coach Gordon Wood’s book “Game Plan for Winning Football,” character is the first thing you look for in a quarterback. After that, the process is simple: find the best athlete in the school, and teach him how to throw.

Once he saw Olivarez run in practice, he knew he had the type of athlete he was looking for. From there, the development began.

“I talked to him about character,” Peña said. “He had some things he had to work on. Nobody is perfect, but he worked really hard at it, and he’s made pretty good decisions since then. He’s come a long way.”

Olivarez said he had to learn not to be so hard on himself. Like many quarterbacks, Olivarez describes himself as “his own biggest critic.”

“The team sees my face, they see my eyes,” Olivarez said. “I have to have thick skin and forget about everything.”

Offensive tackle Andy Martinez said Olivarez has improved greatly as a player and a leader, pushing his teammates through practices.

Tackle Anthony Marin said he thought last year’s issues were a result of the 0-10 season.

“I think it was just George getting frustrated with losing and the team not getting together,” Marin said. “He’s committed way more. … He’s grown up a lot since I’ve met him. He’s taken over the offense. Tried to pump us up. It’s surprised me this year. I’m proud of him.”

Olivarez said he had an easy time picking up the new offense. After all, Peña’s spread only has about a dozen plays, and Olivarez spends a lot of his of time studying.

His father, a former player, frequently texts him tidbits and pointers. Whenever coaches call Olivarez at home, they find that he’s reviewing plays or watching clips of future opponents on Hudl.

“I dissect it,” Olivarez said. “I look at the DBs and safeties, see what their tendencies are, see what they like to do, see where I can get them and trick them.”

Olivarez has also had to retool his throwing motion. The process began with Peña in the spring, and carried through the summer, when he said he would meet receivers Saul Zuniga and Deion Hernandez at the school to throw routes almost every morning at 7 a.m.

The result is a more smooth, over-the-top, compact delivery, with emphasis on a quick release.

“His accuracy has improved dramatically,” Peña said.

Like Olivarez, the Raiders have undergone a complete turnaround. Safety Nico Jaime is the heart and soul of a defense that ranks second in District 31-6A.

With Olivarez protected by offensive tackles Marin and Martinez, Peña and North believe the Raiders can make a run to the playoffs.

“With them and George on the field,” Peña said, “we feel like we have a chance.”

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