CONVERSE — McAllen High quarterback Fred Hover described Saturday’s game as a “butt kicking.” The Bulldogs can only hope it was an educational one.

State power Odessa Permian had an easy time against McHi, cruising to a 35-7 win on Saturday at D.W. Rutledge Stadium.

Bulldogs coach Kevin Brewer scheduled the game with the intent of exposing his team to some of the best talent in the state. By halftime it was clear that Brewer had done just that, as Permian had already claimed a 28-0 lead.

“We’re not going to play a whole lot of teams that are better than that right there,” Brewer said. “We played with a size factor, and a speed factor, and an execution factor that is going to help us grow and learn for the teams that we face later down the road. I wouldn’t have traded this for anything from the standpoint of, I think it’s going to make our program better.”

McAllen learned just how far it has to go on Saturday, as Permian dominated nearly every phase of the game.

At halftime, the Panthers had amassed 259 yards to McAllen’s 95. Running back Brandon Bailey racked up 117 of Permian’s 174 first-half rushing yards on just 11 carries. He also scored two touchdowns — including a 49-yard jaunt on the third play from scrimmage — before sitting most of the second half.

“Odessa came out and they punched us in the mouth, and we couldn’t really get on our feet,” Hover said.

The Bulldogs especially struggled find a footing in the rushing game.

Workhorse back Ricky Rodriguez, who ran for 1,371 yards and 20 touchdowns last season, gained just 24 yards on 13 carries.

Rodriguez toted the ball just once in the second half due to a shoulder injury. Brewer said the injury isn’t expected to be serious, and Rodriguez should be fine.

“We just couldn’t gain control of the line of scrimmage,” Brewer said.

Brewer said the Permian defense gave McAllen trouble in the ground game by attacking the strength of the offensive formation. The rest of McAllen’s struggles were pinned on execution. The Bulldogs dropped three passes Saturday.

Turnovers were also an issue for McAllen. Backs Rodriguez and Isaiah Gonzalez each lost fumbles, and Hover threw an interception when he was hit as he released a pass during the second quarter.

“We’ve got to shore up a lot of things,” Brewer said.

Brewer felt good about McHi playing to a 7-7 tie in the second half, albeit against many of Permian’s second- or third-string players. Overall, the Bulldogs hope the game can help the team grow. McAllen plays Edinburg High on Friday.

“It was an experience,” wideout Ryan Puente said. “(Permian is) a good team and we’re a good team, so we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to get better as we go.”

BAD SNAPS

McAllen’s offense also struggled to get into rhythm because of inconsistent exchanges between Hover and center Jose “Chico” Reyes. The Bulldogs lost 15 yards on a snap that went over Hover’s head. McHi also lost 9 on an errant snap later in the game, killing another potential drive.

Brewer said Reyes has been battling an illness.

“That young man has had a stomach virus for two weeks, and he fought his butt off out there today,” Brewer said. “He’s been dehydrated, he hasn’t been able to eat. I think he just got a little physically weak and was struggling. But he fought back and finished strong.”

SPECIAL TEAMS

Brewer said coming into the game that special teams and the turnover battle were going to be key, and he felt that McHi came through on special teams.

The Bulldogs were solid in punt coverage and forced a muff, while Rodriguez had minor success returning kickoffs prior to his injury.

“Very, very pleased with our special teams,” Brewer said. “I thought they did a great job.”

SECOND BACK

McAllen has never been afraid to give Rodriguez a heavy workload, but on Saturday they may have found another option. Junior Isaiah Gonzalez carried the ball 11 times for 29 yards. Although the numbers aren’t stellar and Gonzalez fumbled on McHi’s final offensive play, Brewer was happy with Gonzalez’s performance.

“The young man did a great job,” Brewer said. “That’s key for us. We need to have somebody to spell Ricky, and I think he showed us today that he can do it.”

[email protected]

GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

MISSION — Once Mission Veterans quarterback Santos Villarreal started to heat up and Mission quarterback Jesus Cuellar went out due to injury, it was only a matter of time before the Patriots put the Eagles away.

Villarreal was slowed early by Mission’s aggressive defense before finishing 24-of-39 passing for 295 yards with a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown as Mission Veterans beat Mission 14-7 on Friday at Tom Landry Stadium.

“It was just mental stuff,” Villarreal said. “We went to halftime, went over some reads. Coach corrected me on some errors and we got the job done.”

Mission Veterans offense struggled to generate anything in the early going, as Villarreal started 4 of 11 for 35 yards.

But he connected on his final seven attempts to close out the first half, racking up 87 yards.

After Vets went three-and-out on two of its first four possessions, Villarreal led a three-play, 55-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass to John Garcia in the left flat. Veterans’ point-after attempt was blocked, allowing Mission to maintain a 7-6 lead heading into halftime.

“Mission got Santos off to a slow start,” coach David Gilpin said. “I didn’t feel like their pressure was getting to us, I felt like we were just off. … There were a lot of things that Mission did to counter Santos, but we just kept banging.”

Mission Vets finally took the lead early in the fourth quarter when Villarreal scored on a sneak to give the Patriots the 14-7 lead that would become final.

Mission Veterans’ defense struggled to contain quarterback Jesus Cuellar and Mission’s spread offense in the early going. Cuellar connected on his first eight passes, amassing 113 yards. He hit six different receivers, as Mission spread the field with four or five wideouts on nearly every snap.

Mission scored on its opening possession, as Cuellar found David Flores on a screen pass. Flores broke one tackle and then streaked into the open field, scampering 38 yards for the score.

Mission moved the ball well on its next two possessions but couldn’t produce points, losing possession on a fumble in Vets territory and having a 30-yard field goal blocked.

But then Cuellar suffered a strained ACL in his left knee on a run late in the first half, and Mission’s offense began to stall.

Backup Williams Arias entered and struggled mightily. Mission failed to gain a first down in the second half, amassing just 9 total yards. Arias threw an interception to safety Kevin Liebano on the Mission’s final offensive play.

“When (Cuellar) went down, we lost our offense, actually,” Mission coach Mario Pena said. “We played on our half of the field the whole second half.”

INJURIES

Liebano left the game limping early in the fourth quarter and was replaced by Villarreal, one of the few times the quarterback entered the game defensively on Friday. Liebano returned to the field after a few plays.

THE STREAK ENDS

Mission entered Friday’s matchup having dominated the series the past three seasons, winning the three meetings by a combined 106-16.

Mission had won five of the past six games between the two.

“We needed to get the Mission monkey off of our back, and we did that tonight,” Gilpin said.

UP NEXT

Mission Veterans travels to Odessa next Saturday to take on Permian at 2 p.m. The Patriots will be the second Valley team to face the six-time state champion and home of Friday Night Lights, as the Panthers open their season against McAllen High at 1 p.m. today in Converse.

Mission will play host to Brownsville Hanna on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

[email protected]

GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

McAllen High coach Kevin Brewer thinks a lack of exposure is the biggest reason Valley teams have typically struggled to get past the third round of the state playoffs.

So, he’s exposing the Bulldogs to one of the state’s most storied programs.

McAllen High will face six-time state champion Odessa Permian, the school known nationwide as the home of Friday Night Lights, at 1 p.m. on Saturday at D.W. Rutledge Stadium in Converse.

“The talent is here to compete with anybody,” Brewer said. “They just don’t get exposed to that enough. And when they do play an out-of-Valley team, you go through the big-eyed syndrome. ‘Wow, who are we playing? What kind of scheme is this?’ If we did it on a regular basis, besides just us and Harlingen every year, I think you would see more competitiveness against other areas of the state.”

Brewer acknowledges that, in some respects, teams outside the Valley are simply more talented. A look at track results shows the speed and athleticism edge is in favor of schools from the Houston, Dallas and San Antonio areas.

But as players? Brewer thinks the Valley athletes are right on par.

“They’re as good as any that I’ve seen in the state,” Brewer said. “I’m also impressed with the quality of offensive and defensive linemen in the Valley. I think there is a boatload of line talent in the Valley.”

Brewer spent the spring looking for a chance to prove it. He was hoping to find an opponent from San Antonio with little luck before Permian coach Blake Feldt gave him a call out of the blue. Feldt was also struggling to find games out of his area. “We’re so isolated down here in the Valley,” Brewer said. “A lot of people don’t want to come down here. We have to make the effort to go find them and go play at places outside the Valley to get that exposure to other programs and the other ways people skin their cat.”

McAllen and Permian exchanged film from scrimmages, but Brewer said only so much can be learned from that. He’s tried to pick up some of Permian’s scheme tendencies, but mostly he’s just focused on McHi.

He hasn’t worried about Permian’s wealth of talent at the skill positions, or about the potential to exploit a Panthers’ offensive and defensive line that return just one starter between them.

“You can’t worry about that, because you can’t do anything about that,” Brewer said. “We can’t do anything about how fast or anything they are. That’s totally out of our control.”

Brewer expects the biggest keys to be special teams and the turnover battle, two things that are critical to every game.

If McHi can win both of those areas, the Bulldogs will have a chance to prove that Valley teams can hang with anyone.

“That’s what we want to do,” Brewer said. “We want to show people that we can compete with the top programs in the state. And we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

[email protected]

GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER

McALLEN — Immediately after every snap, all five McAllen High offensive linemen clap in unison. Coach Kevin Brewer invented the move as a way to get their hands up and inside the pads of their defenders.

After four years playing offensive line at TCU and 17 years as an offensive line coach, Brewer has a passion for the position. He spends a good portion of most practices working with the group. During one of the early stages Tuesday, he was helping the players improve their first step, letting out a “Wooo!” or a “Yeah, baby!” whenever they got it right.

Under Brewer’s guidance, the group has developed into one of the Valley’s strongest units, paving the way for quarterback Fred Hover and running back Ricky Rodriguez to drive a potent offense. Even after losing Jacob Amar and Jesus Alvarado to Cisco College, McAllen’s line is a major force.

“They have the potential to be pretty dad gum good,” Brewer said. “We were pretty good last year up front, and I think this group potentially could be better than last year’s group.”

Central to the group are three senior, all-district returners: left tackle Brandon Cuellar, right tackle Raul Luera and center Jose “Chico” Reyes.

Cuellar is the technician. He’s hardly the thickest or strongest at 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, but Brewer has nicknamed him “Textbook.” Cuellar said he’s been playing tackle since seventh grade, and he always reviews his plays to look for faults.

“His technique is flawless,” Brewer said. “His assignments are flawless. He beats people by being in the right place at the right time.”

Luera is more of the brute-force type on the opposite side. Brewer called him the strongest kid in the program. He squats 550 pounds, benches 320 and power cleans 250. Luera said his strength is being able to drive defenders off the line of scrimmage.

Reyes is the quickest and most athletic of the bunch. Because he’s only 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds, Brewer originally projected him as a fullback. He quickly changed his mind when he saw Reyes’ strength and aggression.

Having three stalwarts in place has made it easier for juniors Elijah Dames and Isaiah Leanos to slide up from JV and take on the starting guard positions.

“Our two guards matured a lot over the summer,” Luera said. “That was a pleasant surprise for us, because it really makes our jobs a lot easier.”

Brewer said the young players have benefited just by being able to follow the lead of the seniors.

Reyes has tried to take on a more active role in their development. As the center, he’s in charge of knowing who blocks who on any given snap. If an assignment is missed, he’s the first to pick them up and get them realigned, and he said they’re never afraid to ask what they did wrong. So far, he’s been impressed with their performance.

“We’ve seen how much our young pups have grown,” Reyes said. “In all honesty, they have adjusted a lot faster than I did last year.”

Leanos and Dames said they felt welcomed by the three returners, and both were willing to take instruction.

Brewer said the learning curve for the new linemen was very short, even going back to the spring. Still, picking up the game’s little nuances is a work in progress.

Dames said he’s specifically working on his footwork, although Brewer cited that as one of his strengths, along with his hands, balance and positioning. In that way, Brewer sees Dames as a younger version of Cuellar, part of the reason he paired them together on the left side.

The same goes for the right, where Leanos was paired with Luera to make a duo of big, physical maulers.

Overall, the line forms a group that is slightly smaller but more agile and athletic than last year’s. The unit gives Brewer the flexibility to mix in some different packages on offense, and is a major reason why McHi boasts one of the Valley’s most powerful attacks.

“Definitely the strength of our team is the offensive line,” Hover, the returning District 31-5A MVP, said. “They’re going to be what carries us through the season.”

[email protected]