The Rivera Raiders’ Andrea De La Rosa again finished strong when she won Saturday’s Meet of Champions girls 5K race in a time of 19 minutes, 33.7 seconds, extending her streak in the Rio Grande Valley.

“She’s undefeated right now,” Rivera coach Arturo Hurtado said. “She hasn’t lost a race here in the Valley.”

Although Rivera did not finish as high as it would have liked as a team, De La Rosa’s performance and the Raiders’ resiliency should be enough to have a strong showing during the Oct. 12 district cross country meet, Hurtado said.

“We did all right, but we’re going to get better,” he said. “We’re trying to put a better team together. That’s what we’re trying to do right now for district on Oct. 12.”

DECENT SHOWING

Rivera’s city-rival, Hanna, however, did have a decent showing as a team at Saturday’s meet, with its girls finishing fourth.

“(The Hanna girls) did pretty well,” Golden Eagles coach Olaya Teran said. “They finished fourth overall. Of course, as a coach, we want them to do a little bit better, but their performance was pretty good. As far as running at the Meet of Champions, it’s a big meet. Overall, the performance was really good for them.”

The Golden Eagles’ boys finished ninth. Teran said the team has two weeks to improve in order to have a better performance at district.

“We have two meets left before the district meet,” she said. “They’re getting themselves prepared. Obviously, there’s competition in our district and, for the girls, it’ll be the Harlingen High and Harlingen South teams. They kind of give us a good picture of where we’re at before district.”

It wasn’t pretty at times, but the Raymondville Bearkats managed to stop the St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds in their tracks to earn a 30-14 victory in Friday night’s non-district matchup.

“We feel that we did enough to win it, but every time we’ve come here, it’s been a battle; it’s been a great game,” Raymondville coach Frank Cantu said. “There’s no quit in these guys. We did enough to come out (on top).

“We had some great defensive stances here at the end, close to the end zone, that really made a big difference. They went to their big guy, (Pablo Zolezzi); he had a great game, huge catches. At the end of the day, we were fortunate enough to come out with a victory.”

The game kicked off with each team trading turnovers at least once until the Bearkats hit paydirt on a 13-yard pass from quarterback Jacob Posas to ZaRaivion Armendarez.

During the point-after attempt, the Bloodhounds’ Seon Teo Ong blocked Raymondville’s kick and ran the ball back to add two points on a safety for St. Joseph.

The Bloodhounds had an unsuccessful drive after that, mustering 2 yards.

Raymondville, however, had a successful 91-yard drive that culminated with another pass from Posas to Armendarez, this time for 89 yards.

The Bearkats scored one more time before halftime on a 1-yard run by Marcus Capetillo.

Capetillo finished the game with 123 rushing yards in 16 carries.

“It was phenomenal coming out here and getting the (win) with the team,” he said. “Most important thing, though, we all executed greatly and it showed.”

The senior running back said the team takes each game one week at a time.

“Next week we have Kingsville,” Capetillo said. “It’s our homecoming (game), so we’re going to go out and execute again like we did tonight and hopefully come out with the (win).”

During the second half, each team traded two touchdowns each.

After finding the end zone on a 79-yard reception from Tomas Edge to Zolezzi, St. Joseph recovered an onside kick to put the home team at the 50-yard line with 6:58 left in the game.

In fact, it was Zolezzi who managed to scoop up the onside kick for the Bloodhounds.

The St. Joseph captain said despite the loss, he believes the team has improved a lot since the start of the season.

“I think the difference from this team to any other team that we’ve ever had is that we never give up,” he said. “We always stay strong as a team.”

St. Joseph coach Tino Villarreal praised Zolezzi’s performance Friday night and said the Bloodhounds will work on being able to get him the ball more often.

“Pablo is a special player, and we have to find creative ways to get him the football,” Villarreal said. “Once he has the ball in his hands he does what we saw him do today, and we just have to figure out a way to give him the ball more often.”

Zolezzi garnered 124 passing yards and 2 rushing. He also scored the two touchdowns for the Bloodhounds.

Villarreal said he is proud the team never gave up and fought to the end.

“I couldn’t be any prouder as a coach the way our boys fought; they never gave up and they gave us all the effort that we asked,” he said.

After the Bloodhounds recovered their own onside kick, both teams increased their physicality and aggressiveness during the last moments of the game.

The Raymondville coach said the Bearkats are going to work on improving their special teams after Friday night’s performance.

“We want to improve every week,” Cantu said. “We feel we got beat with special teams, so that’s something we’re going to work on. That and to continue to get the four quarters in.

“Continue to play tough defensively, make tackles and, at the end of the day, come away with not so many penalties and that kind of stuff. It got sloppy, kind of got away from us there, but we’re fortunate to come out with a W.”

Ultimately, it was Raymondville’s defense that proved to be too much for St. Joseph’s last-minute flurry. The loss was tough for the Bloodhounds, especially during their home opener, but Villarreal said this will not slow them down.

“We told the kids right now that last year we started 1-3 and nobody remembers that,” he said. “They remember that we won our first district championship in 37 years, so it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We had a real tough stretch. We had three road games to start the season against very good teams.

“Hats off to Raymondville; they’re a phenomenal team and I thought we gave them everything we had. We had three trips to the red zone where we came up empty handed. That could’ve been the difference tonight.”

By Jesus Sanchez | The Brownsville Herald

The Bloodhounds and the Raymondville Bearkats will renew their rivalry in clash of styles at 7:30 p.m. Friday during St. Joseph Academy’s home opener at Canales Field in Brownsville.

“We’re trying to piece together 48 minutes of football,” St. Joseph head coach Tino Villarreal said. “I think that for having a young team, we’ve played some good opponents and the difference in those games is obviously the turnovers. We just have to take care of the football.”

St. Joseph (1-2) is coming off a 59-33 loss against Rio Hondo in Week 3, in which the Bloodhounds turned the ball over multiple times.

Villarreal said one of main focuses in practice this week was playing smarter and taking care of the football.

“That’s really been our deal all week long,” he said. “I think, if you look back, Rio Hondo has always been a real stingy defense and a very good football team and we have a lot of respect for them and turning over the ball six times isn’t going to help us out.

“We thought we hung in tough for three quarters. Raymondville is going to be just as good, if not better. If we want to be in the game for longer than three quarters, we’re going to have to keep possession and not turnover the football.”

The Bloodhounds will aim to get wide receiver Pablo Zolezzi involved against the Bearkats.

Last season, Zolezzi, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound starter, was a key player in the Bloodhounds’ 2017 campaign.

“(Zolezzi is a) pretty big guy and we’re just trying to figure out ways to get him the football,” the St. Joseph coach said. “He caught for 900 yards for us last year and so we’re really excited to see him get out there.”

Zolezzi will be backed up by the Bloodhounds’ offensive linemen, which will see guard Gabriel Caram make his return to the St. Joseph side for the first time this season.

The key to overcoming the Bearkats’ attack, however, will be each Bloodhound doing their job, Villarreal said.

“We have an eager group of seniors and, obviously, they expect to win every game and I think one of the most important mindsets to have is just for everyone individually to do their job and not try to do someone else’s job,” he said. “I think if everyone takes care of their own job, we’re going to be just fine.”

The Bearkats (2-1) have also been preparing for their match against St. Joseph.

After dropping its season opener to La Feria in a 17-7 loss, Raymondville has won its last two matchups, including a 49-0 shutout against Lyford last week.

Head coach Frank Cantu said he likes the improvement he’s seen from the Bearkats during the last couple of weeks.

“We feel that we’re practicing well and we feel that we’re seeing improvements week in and week out,” Cantu said. “We’ve had some really tough matchups with St. Joe. It’s been tough games. We know they’re tough.

“They’re well coached. Coach Tino Villarreal does a great job with those guys. He always has them ready. We have to be ready. We have to be at the top of our game so that we can make sure we get in there; we make sure we execute and play the best football that we can.”

For the Bearkats, having ball control will be a factor in establishing their running game early and one of the keys to victory.

“We have to be stingy on defense,” Cantu said. “We want to try and get as many three-and-outs as we can and just keep them away from the ball and for us, to hang on to the ball as much as possible (as well as) have some long drives.

“We always want to win the turnover battle. We like to get some turnovers; we like to make them count. Those are some of the things that we look for week in and week out.”

The Raymondville coach said he knows the team will be in a fight against the Bloodhounds, but the Bearkats are looking forward to it.

“We want to go in there and we want to execute,” Cantu said. “We want to play well and we want to try and come out of there with a victory. We know it’s always been a tough game, so we’re anticipating a good ball game there on Friday night.”

By Jesus Sanchez | The Brownsville Herald

Two teams will be looking to get back on the winning column after suffering losses in Week 3 when the Chargers host the Wolverines at 7 p.m. Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium.

Brownsville Veterans Memorial (2-1, 1-1) fell 45-24 to Mission Veterans last week while PSJA Memorial (0-3, 0-2) came up short 34-21 against PSJA Southwest.

Both teams are now looking to regroup and refocus going forward in the 2018 season.

In the game against Mission Veterans, the Chargers had a strong defensive performance early on but, offensively, they made several mistakes that cost them the game.

Damian Maldonado passed the football to Mauricio Garza for a 64-yard gain and the first touchdown for Brownsville Veterans. Liam Longoria did the same with Elijah Masten for 41 yards to give the Chargers more points during the third and then proceeded to find the end zone after a 14-yard rush in the final quarter of the game.

Despite the outcome, head coach David Cantu said he is proud of the Chargers and is confident the team has learned a lot from their loss last week.

“We were in the ball game at halftime and some unfortunate things happened,” Cantu said. “We failed to execute on certain situations and the game got away from us. I think we learned a lot about ourselves and I think we can get a lot of good sometimes from a loss. That being said, we’re very glad it’s a short week and we get to get back on the field.

“This week is not about, no disrespect to PSJA Memorial, but it’s not about them, it’s about us looking ourselves in the mirror and improving in every phase of the game.”

For Brownsville Veterans, practice this week has been about correcting some of those errors, especially ball security, Cantu said.

The Chargers coach said ball security is something the team has worked on every day leading up to the match against the Wolverines.

“We’ve had too many turnovers as far as fumbles go,” he said. “That’s something that we’re constantly aware of. We’ve always been a very strong running football team and this past Saturday night, we struggled with the run and I know the offensive line and everyone involved in that have a chip on their shoulder and we need to get back track to being a strong running team.”

On the other side, the Wolverines have been focusing on identifying their strengths and capitalizing on them.

PSJA Memorial head coach Michael Uribe said the team is also working on correcting errors it has made in an effort to become more competitive.

Uribe said despite the loss to PSJA Southwest, the Wolverines continue to be resilient and hungry in their search for a win this season.

“They continue to show heart and preparation in their attitude and work ethic,” he said. “That makes me extremely proud of them. We know we have a tough battle ahead of us, but our kids have never been afraid to compete and they’ve never been afraid of any challenges. So, we’re going to continue to work hard; we’re going to continue to coach our kids hard and we have to prepare to the best of our abilities to be successful.”

Asked what PSJA Memorial must do to overcome Brownsville Veterans, Uribe replied that the Wolverines can’t be themselves; they must execute more than ever and play to the best of their abilities.

“We know Brownsville Veterans is one of the top teams in the area, in the Valley,” the PSJA Memorial coach said. “We know it’s not going to be easy, but we will focus on ourselves and play with a lot of enthusiasm.”

The Wolverines have several weapons to use against the Chargers, including running back Joaquin Sanchez.

Uribe described Sanchez as a player who’s gone above and beyond to motivate and help the team improve.

“He’s our running back but he’s a young man that we’ve been relying heavily on in leadership and, obviously, in production,” he said.

Uribe said the Wolverines will have a tough night on Thursday, but they will give it their all and fight until the end.

“ We’re excited to have an opportunity to compete against one of the better teams in the Valley and we know that our kids are going to give it their all,” he said.

Pace struggled during the first half of its game against Donna High but found its rhythm in the second to earn a 17-9 win.

The Vikings aim to continue their success when they face district-rival PSJA Southwest at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Pharr.

Despite its slow start in Week 3, Pace had a strong second-half showing that saw the Vikings find the end zone twice during the past two quarters and leave the Redskins scoreless.

“We needed this win (because) Donna is going to be one of those teams that is going to vie for one of those playoffs spot,” Pace coach Danny Pardo said. “Even though we didn’t play very quick the first half, we played very well the second half, especially defensively.”

At halftime, the Vikings were trailing Donna High 9-3.

The win over the Redskins helped improve the Vikings to a 2-1 overall record and 2-0 in District 16-5A Division I, leaving Donna High 2-1 and 1-1.

Pardo said Pace will have its hands full when it takes on the PSJA Southwest Javelinas this week, but the Vikings will be ready.

“(PSJA Southwest has) been able to move the ball with a lot of teams,” he said. “They have our respect, and we’re going to work as hard as we can to go out there and play this game against them. They’re not as bad as their record indicates. They’re pretty good.”

REGROUPING

The Lopez Lobos were in a fight against the Rio Grande City Rattlers during their Week 2 matchup but, ultimately, fell due to one-too-many offensive errors.

“It was a tough one, tough one for everybody, but when you turn the ball over and make critical mistakes, that’s kind of what happens,” Lobos coach Armando Gutierrez said. “We won’t give up on each other, and we won’t give up on plays.”

On Saturday, the Lobos’ defense delivered as usual. However, the Lopez offense was unable to capitalize on several occasions to hit paydirt as much as it could have.

The Rattlers and Lobos went back and forth throughout the game, trading turnovers, fumbles and touchdowns. Yet, during the last seconds of the game, Lopez was not able to find the end zone from its half of the field.

Lopez has lost two games in a row. Gutierrez said regardless of what the Lopez has faced up to now, the team is ready to overcome any obstacles in front of it.

“That’s part of what football teaches us in life,” he said. “Our boys have that mentality at heart and we’re going to bounce back, so I’m not worried about that.”

The Lobos will aim to turn things around Saturday when they face the Porter Cowboys in the Battle of Southmost at 7 p.m. at Sams Memorial Stadium.

BATTLE-TESTED

This week, Brownsville Veterans Memorial will face PSJA Memorial at 7 p.m. Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium.

Although both teams suffered losses in Week 2, the Chargers had a strong defensive performance early on in their game against Mission Veterans Memorial. Offensively, however, Brownsville Veterans only mustered 250 yards, 223 passing and 27 rushing.

Both teams went scoreless during the first quarter.

The Chargers’ Damian Maldonado passed the football to Mauricio Garza for a 64-yard gain and the first touchdown for Brownsville Veterans. Liam Longoria did the same with Elijah Masten to put give the Chargers more points during the third, that time for 41 yards.

Longoria once again found the end zone after a 14-yard rush in the final quarter of the game.

MOVING FORWARD

The Porter Cowboys fell 35-27 to the La Joya Palmview Lobos during their Week 2 battle.

Porter led Palmview by three points at halftime but was not able to stop the Lobos’ flurry during the second half.

La Joya Palmview controlled the ball, for the most part, during the second half, eating up the minutes and giving little room for Porter to capitalize on.

The Cowboys are 1-2 overall and 0-2 in district.

District 32-6A caught a break from team tennis competition last week due to the threat of inclement weather but returned to action Monday as the season nears its end.

Coach Tyrone Powers and the Hanna Golden Eagles expect to have their hands full as they continue district play on the road at 5 p.m. today against Los Fresnos.

The Golden Eagles were 1-0 heading into their match against Harlingen South on Monday and will be looking to improve their record before their final match against the Harlingen High Cardinals on Sept. 25.

“We’ve gotten better,” Powers said. “Our boys have matured. They’re getting a little better. Our strength is our girls. We have some strong girls in our team, but our boys are getting a little better. We have a tough fight against Harlingen South, Los Fresnos and San Benito because they have good boys. My boys are going to have to step up a little bit.”

The Hanna coach said the Golden Eagles are ready and eager to get better in every match as competition in District 32-6A won’t be easy, especially against schools such as Harlingen South.

“They’re probably one of the top 20 teams in the state,” Powers said. “They’re loaded, boys and girls. Our girls can compete; our boys are going to find a way. The other teams, we’re pretty matched evenly with them, so it’s going to be a tough fight with them.”

Hanna will rely strongly on its girls side to get the wins it needs. Schools in team tennis competition must win 10 out of 19 matches to secure the overall victory.

During their match against Rivera earlier this month, the Hanna girls won all of their matches.

The ultimate goal for the Golden Eagles is making it to the playoffs, which they hope to achieve this season.

“We’ll know within the next week because the following Tuesday we play Harlingen (High), so we’ll know where we stand within a week,” Powers said.

The Golden Eagles also will face San Benito at 5 p.m. Thursday at Hanna.

GETTING BETTER

Coach William Sandlin is confident in the Los Fresnos Falcons’ ability going forward, as they have shown improvement as the season has gone on.

The Falcons were scheduled to battle the Harlingen High Cardinals on Monday.

Los Fresnos’ overall record before its match against Harlingen High was 1-1, with a 19-0 victory over the Rivera Raiders and an 18-1 loss to Harlingen South.

“(Harlingen High has) always been very tough,” Sandlin said, ahead of the match against the Cardinals. “The Harlingen schools have good tennis players. I’m looking forward to the matchup. I think my kids have a good chance, and we’ll just have to see what happens out there in the court.”

Sandlin is a former Cardinals player himself and said he and the Falcons appreciate good competition, as it has and continues to help the team grow.

“My players are doing very well,” Sandlin said. “We have pretty good veteran players this year. They’ve been with me for a while now and improving every year. We’ve been set pretty well on both the girls and boys side.”

For the remainder of the season, Sandlin said the focus in practice will be working on the fundamentals and aiming to make it to the playoffs.

“We’re going to work on our footwork,” he said. “We’re going to work on our focus during matches and just improving our techniques, trying to get better.”

STILL FIGHTING

The Rivera Raiders may have a 0-2 record, but still have plenty of fight left in them.

“The kids are fighting,” coach Daniel Espinosa said. “We got some wins against Hanna and a couple of wins against Harlingen. We have a few wins that our top players have secured; they’ve played well.”

Although the team has come up short in capturing an overall win, some of the Raiders, such as Rivera No. 1 Matthew Guevara, have won big matches in the top slots against Harlingen High and Hanna.

Not only that, the top players, such as Guevara and Rivera No. 1 girl Elvia Zamora, have begun to take on leadership roles to motivate fellow Raiders and improve together.

“What we’ve been doing in practice since August and working at, they started using in their matches to win some points and some games also,” Espinosa said. “We’re coming up a little short in matches in general as a team but we’re getting the points; we’re getting the games and some sets and, hopefully, we’ll start getting more sets and matches pretty soon.”

The Raiders will have two home matches at 5 p.m. this week as they face off against San Benito today and Harlingen South on Wednesday.

“We were able to get a little practice in (on Thursday) before the rain came,” Espinosa said. “We’re feeling comfortable, and we’re hoping the kids get out there and play if the weather allows. We have one more day of practice on Monday, and we should be ready to play (today).”

By Jesus Sanchez | The Brownsville Herald

Once again, the threat of inclement weather has affected football games in the area; this time moving Lopez’s matchup with Rio Grande City to 6 p.m. Saturday at Sams Memorial Stadium.

If weather permits, the Lopez Lobos will face off against the Rio Grande City Rattlers in a District 16-5A Division 1 matchup.

In Week 2, both teams came up short in their respective games with the Lobos falling 32-12 to city-rival Brownsville Veterans Memorial and the Rattlers losing 37-29 to La Joya Palmview.

Lopez coach Armando Gutierrez said the Lobos have shaken off the loss to the Chargers and are ready to take on the Rattlers.

“That game is just one game of many that we got,” Gutierrez said. “We also have to remember that as big as that game was for us, yes, it was the start of district play, but it was also just Week 2 of the season. We’re kind focus on getting into the postseason. The kids bounced back pretty quick, and this week has just been about positives going forward and correcting the mistakes.”

On Rio Grande City’s side, head coach Aaron Garcia said the team likes its chances going against Lopez based on the Rattlers’ potential and talent.

“Obviously, we’ve been in a couple of close games,” Garcia said. “We were expecting to win. We’re a young team with a lot of talent, but, obviously, we haven’t delivered in a couple of places and that has caused us to come up short in the last few weeks.

“Going into Brownsville Lopez, this is a new opponent for us. Obviously, coming down from another district, we’re very familiar that they’ve made playoffs in the (past). We’re not going to take them lightly. We respect Lopez but, you know, our intentions are to go out there and win.”

The Lobos did not let their loss in Week 2 bring them down and are ready to showcase their physicality and ability against Rio Grande City.

As its quest for a postseason showing continues, Lopez will continue to rely on its fundamentals to improve overall going forward, Gutierrez said.

“We felt like we were just as physical as Veterans and any other team, and that’s where we get our energy from,” he said. “Not just our defense’s physicality, but our whole team’s physicality. It’s just like I told the kids. Everyone might outnumber us by 30 to 40 kids, but at the same time, they have 11 on the field just like we do and I think our 11, roundabout, are just more physical.”

In their game last week, the Rattlers trailed La Joya Palmview for most of the first quarter and did not quite get their hands on the ball as much as they’d like, Garcia said.

The Rio Grande City head coach said the team has a lot of speed and weapons it can rely on to create plays and put points up on the board.

“Our kids know that we can score,” he said. “When you replace nine starters on defense, that’s going to affect your play. In this case, we have a 10-team district; we don’t have the luxury of having two or three games under our belts to get ready for district.

“It’s just a matter of eliminating mistakes and having the ball bounce our way and things will be go right for us.”

Both teams will aim to get a win under their belt during their Week 3 battle Saturday.

When it seemed like the Lady Tigers were mounting a comeback, the Porter Cowgirls shut down Mercedes’ fourth-set flurry to secure their first district win of the season.

Porter defeated Mercedes 25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 25-18 on Tuesday night at home.

Coach Ariel Arredondo said the win was important because it helped the Cowgirls realize they can finish any match they’re in, which was something lacking last season.

“A lot of the games, we were able to take teams to four sets, five sets, but never came out on top,” Arredondo said. “Right now, the girls are on a path to be able to finish more games, more often, more frequently. Overall, they did really well.”

The Cowgirls took the first two sets, capitalizing on errors from the Lady Tigers and delivering several finishes themselves.

“We started off way too slow,” Mercedes coach Cynthia Wareham said after the match. “Our intensity level was not there. We tend to do that from time to time, where we get ourselves in a little rut and then we get seven to eight points to get us close enough, but then we can’t overcome all the mistakes that we’re doing. We had a lot of hitting errors. We had a lot of service errors.”

Mercedes refused to get swept and responded with a 25-21 victory during the third set, with Mika Vento leading the charge for Lady Tigers with four blocks and two kills during that game alone.

During the fourth and final set, the Lady Tigers led Porter 5-3 to start things off.

After that, it was a back-and-forth rally between the two teams, and the Cowgirls held the edge, for the most part.

“This really wasn’t our best game as a team,” Vento said. “A lot of players were having off days. I was off at the beginning. I had a lot of hits out and missed blocks. It just wasn’t our day today, but I feel like we’ll come back from it and do better.”

Yet, Mercedes created a seven-point flurry before the Cowgirls took the game back.

At one point, Arredondo called a timeout and gave a pep talk to the Cowgirls, helping them stop the Lady Tigers’ attack late in the fourth set.

Arredondo said she told the Cowgirls to focus and play like they know how.

“Nothing that they were doing had changed,” she said. “They needed to stop being intimidated and play the way that I know that they know that they can do.”

Ultimately, an error from Mercedes’ side of the court cost the Lady Tigers the final point of the fourth set and the match.

Two of the key players for the Cowgirls were Ana Meza and Brigitte Ortiz.

“(This win) means a lot,” Meza said. “We have been working out since the summer. We want to win district, and even go to the playoffs and everything to make Porter proud and for the best for the team.”

Meza ended the game with six kills and seven aces, and Ortiz tallied 19 blocks, one kill, two blocks and one dig.

Also for Porter, Micaela Garcia finished with 11 kills and two blocks; Azaneth Perez, seven kills; Aliah Quiroz, two kills and two blocks; and Vanessa Mendez, four digs.

“We did pretty good,” Ortiz said. “We’ve been working a lot on mentality, on pushing through and forgetting every little mistake and just getting to the positive things, and just keep on going throughout the game.”

For the Lady Tigers, Vento garnered 12 kills and 11 blocks; Karisa Moya added seven assists; Karime Zamora contributed seven digs; and Miranda Mendoza collected four kills, three blocks and one assist.

The Cowgirls stand 1-1 in district play.

“Last week, we came up short with Donna,” Arredondo said. “We started district with a loss. We’re hoping that now, this starts to build up. The girls are getting a taste of victory, something that we want them to get used to. We want to build a winning tradition here.”

Mercedes’ district record also is 1-1.

Pace had a tough loss in Week 1 and bounced back after a slow first-half start in Week 2, but the Vikings have not lost their will to win as the season goes forward.

Pace defeated Porter 34-14 last week and was led by Brandon Zapata, who was filling in for quarterback Jose Banda.

Zapata rushed for two touchdowns and passed for a pair of scores during the Vikings’ victory against the Cowboys in their district opener last week.

“It’s always good to win your district opener,” Pace coach Danny Pardo said. “(Zapata) is a multiple-position player. If we want to do certain things, we do them with (Zapata). There are certain game plans for him. We also have different plans for our regular starter, (Banda).”

Banda, Pace’s usual starting quarterback, was held out for precautionary, injury-related reasons. He will be back in action this week when the Vikings take on the Donna High Redskins at 7 p.m. Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium.

Pardo said the Vikings have two quarterbacks at their disposal to execute different offensive strategies against any team they face.

“Right now, Zapata can go in there and run the ball like we did this past week,” the Pace coach said. “Of course, our starter is also a running quarterback, but he’s a better passer. We have him in that position so we can free up Zapata to go play wherever we need to play him at. We don’t lose much when we change quarterbacks. They both have different qualities that we need.”

District rival Donna High is coming off a 30-14 win against PSJA Southwest.

“Donna is very impressive,” Pardo said. “Last year, they were mainly run-oriented. They did a great job at running, but the quarterback was a really young quarterback last year. Now, he already has a year under his belt and he’s throwing the ball pretty well. We have our work cut out for us. They’re pretty good offensively and defensively.”

CORRECTING MISTAKES

The Lopez Lobos suffered a 32-12 loss against city-rival Brownsville Veterans Memorial in Week 2 but are focused on improving their game.

Lopez coach Armando Gutierrez said the team has done a good job in shaking off the loss to the Chargers and is getting ready for its next bout.

“We knew this week, coming in, was going to be a tough week for our kids,” Gutierrez said. “The kids bounced back on the bus. They were telling us, ‘Coach, we’re getting ready for the next one.’ Their mentality started changing, but, you know, (we’re) making sure our kids are moving forward this week.”

The Lopez coach said despite the loss in Week 2, the Lobos will not let it bring them down as their quest for a postseason showing continues.

“That game is just one game of many that we got,” Gutierrez said. “We also have to remember that as big as that game was for us, yes, it was the start of district play, but it was also just Week 2 of the season. We’re kind focus on getting into the postseason. The kids bounced back pretty quick, and this week has just been about positives going forward and correcting the mistakes.”

Lopez will continue to showcase its physicality for the remainder of the season, Gutierrez said. The Lobos coach said the team will rely on its fundamentals to improve overall going forward.

“We felt like we were just as physical as Veterans and any other team, and that’s where we get our energy from,” he said. “Not just our defense’s physicality, but our whole team’s physicality. It’s just like I told the kids. Everyone might outnumber us by 30 to 40 kids, but at the same time, they have 11 on the field just like we do and I think our 11, roundabout, are just more physical.”

Lopez will face off against Rio Grande City at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium in Week 3.

Gutierrez said the team is in a good place and state of mind, and will be ready for the Rattlers come Thursday.

“We’re getting a few guys back from injuries and, like I said, the kids are ready to go, the coaches are ready to go, and we’re ready to bounce back from last week,” he said. “The effort we’re going to get this week is going to be phenomenal just from what we’ve seen in practice.”

DOWN, NOT OUT

After snapping a 22-game losing streak in Week 1 against Port Isabel, the Porter Cowboys lost 34-14 to the Pace Vikings last Thursday.

Despite the loss, the Cowboys took the fight to the Vikings early on and didn’t let up throughout the match.

It was a back-and-forth first half, but Pace outplayed Porter during the final two quarters.

“I think the kids know when everything is going right and, obviously, when we play carefree and turnover-free football, we’re a pretty good team,” Porter coach Carlos Uresti said. “We just have to manage our turnovers. Last week, we had a turnover that turned into a touchdown. Then again, you also saw us fight back and take the lead at the end of the first half. Down 13-0, in the past, we’ve had a hard time coming back, but now the kids are believing in the system, they believe in each other.”

In the first quarter, Pace took the 13-0 lead against the Cowboys.

Porter answered during the second quarter, with running back Ulises Guzman rushing for 32 yards to find the end zone and Cowboys quarterback Kevin Garcia delivering a 29-yard keeper to give the Cowboys their second touchdown.

At halftime, the Cowboys had a 14-13 lead.

“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” Uresti said. “Going up against Palmview, that’s a very tough opponent. They used to be a 6A team playing in the McAllen district. They’re very well-coached. We saw them put up a lot of points last week and we had played a tough game, but at the same time we were telling the kids it’s a winnable game. Every game is a winnable game when you play carefree and turnover-free football.”

The Cowboys will look to get back on the winning side when they travel to La Joya Palmview to take on the Lobos at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The first half wasn’t pretty, but the Los Fresnos Falcons didn’t let a 28-point setback stop them from coming back and defeating the Austin LBJ Jaguars 36-35 on Friday night at Leo Aguilar Stadium.

“Our kids worked so hard,” Falcons coach Patrick Brown said after the game. “We lift four days a week; we condition almost every day and we’re a fourth-quarter-type football team. I think it showed in that last quarter. Our kids were still going strong. … It came down to the last one who would throw a punch, and that just happened to be us.”

Los Fresnos (1-1) struck first in the first quarter after an 8-yard run by Chris Resendiz down the middle.

Shortly after, the Jaguars responded with a 1-yard quarterback keeper from Brian Batts to get on the board but failed to convert the point-after attempt.

During a penalty-heavy late second quarter and early in the third, the Falcons made too many mistakes and Austin LBJ rolled out to a 35-7 lead.

Batts once again found the end zone after an 11-yard run late in the second quarter.

The Falcons were trailing the Jaguars 12-7 at halftime.

Austin LBJ began the third quarter with a 75-yard kick return from Latrell McCutchin. The visitors successfully completed a 2-point conversion after Batts rushed to the end zone, giving the Jaguars a 20-7 lead.

Los Fresnos had an unsuccessful first drive of the second half and gave up the ball on its own 5.

Austin LBJ showed a strong ground attack on its second possession of the second half, successfully driving 95 yards to score once more.

After a 1-yard QB keeper from Batts and a successful 2-point conversion, the Jaguars were up 28-7 with 6:38 left in the third.

On the Falcons’ following drive, Austin LBJ forced and recovered a fumble. It took only an 11-yard pass from Batts to David Jones to give LBJ a 35-7 lead.

Yet, the Falcons kicked it up a notch late in the third with a 10-yard touchdown pass from QB Sergio Martinez to Nico Valencia, and forced a fumble that Los Fresnos’ Isaiah Muniz ran back to add more points for the home team.

“We made some halftime adjustments,” Brown said. “It’s hard for our kids to get adjusted to (Austin LBJ’s) speed because we just don’t see this type of athleticism down across the board. We made some adjustments on defense and offense, and we kind of figured out what they were doing up front, and I think we had a great game plan going into that second half.”

After another touchdown pass from Martinez to Valencia, this time for 17 yards during the last quarter, the Falcons found themselves in two critical fourth-down situations, on which they capitalized, the last allowing them to get to the Jaguars’ 2-yard line.

A quarterback keeper from Martinez was enough to get the Falcons one point shy of tying the game, but a penalty against the Jaguars during the point-after attempt allowed Los Fresnos to successfully go for a two-point conversion and the win.

First-year LBJ coach Jahmal Fenner said the Falcons fought hard until the end, which allowed them to take the victory.

“Los Fresnos just never gave up,” Fenner said. “We got ahead, and we got some costly turnovers and some penalties, and (Los Fresnos) played hard because they finished the game. For us, it’s a learning experience, and we got to learn how to finish the game.

“Congrats to Los Fresnos, they played hard, they finished the game, and good luck to them on their season,” he added.

LBJ (1-1) was coming off a 34-21 win on the road against the Elgin Wildcats in the team’s season opener.

Brown said it was the team’s plan all along to face tough Texas schools before district play begins.

“We played two great teams in a row; this is why we chose to play this type of schedule,” the Falcons’ coach said. “I think everybody who was at this game could see the type of team (LBJ) had, well-coached. … An amazing game. My hat’s off to LBJ. Those kids played so hard and traveled down here, and everybody got their money’s worth, that’s for sure.”