By ANDREW CRUM | STAFF WRITER
Brownsville Veterans Memorial had a setback last week with the loss of junior running back Omar Rodriguez due to injury. It turned out; they might be just fine with the rest of their running backs.
The Chargers finished with 425 rushing yards on the night — 324 of them in the first half — led by Derrik Rodriguez, who finished with 201 yards on the ground. Carlos Garza finished with 157 yards and the two touchdowns as the Brownsville Veterans offense ran wild over the Raiders defense.
The Chargers continued much of the same in the second half and defeated PSJA North 30-23 on Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“We have a lot of talented backs, but they work incredibly hard in practice, coach Martinez does a great job with them, getting their knees up and running downhill,” Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu said. “The offensive line did a fantastic job, without them we don’t get any yards, props to coach Meyers, coach Atkinson and all of them who work with the linemen.”
At first, it looked like a long night for the Chargers after they fumbled the ball on their first offensive play and PSJA North recovered on the Brownsville Veterans 23-yard line.
But the Chargers defense held strong, allowing only a 42-yard field goal by Margarito Carpio to give the Raiders a 3-0 lead. It would be the only lead they would have though.
Brownsville Veterans capped off its next drive with a 1-yard run by Garza to take a 7-3 lead.
The Chargers defense held the Raiders offense in check after the Brownsville Veterans offense fumbled on its next two drives to give PSJA North a few chances.
Garza broke loose for a 59-yard run and followed it up with a 31-yard run for a touchdown to give the Chargers a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“We didn’t have the same team on the field, we had three defensive starters didn’t play,” PSJA North coach Jorge Pena said. “Not taking anything away from (Brownsville) Veterans and coach Cantu, they did a good job executing their offense. They turned the ball over early, but we didn’t take advantage of it.”
PSJA North quarterback George Olivarez got a 12-yard run for a touchdown to cut the deficit midway through the second quarter for the Raiders.
But Brownsville Veterans continued to put points on the board. Rodriguez fumbled near the goal line but Erick Vasquez was right there to pounce on the ball and complete the touchdown for the Chargers. Junior kicker Beto Trevino connected on two field goals in the quarter, the first from 38-yards and followed that later with a 27-yarder to give the Chargers a 27-9 lead at the half.
The Raiders chipped away at the lead at times in the third quarter, Jacob Rodriguez scored on a 22-yard touchdown run to get PSJA North within two scores.
Trevino connected from 43 yards at the end of the third to keep the Raiders from getting close.
Rodriguez scampered from 19 yards out late in the fourth to bring the Raiders within a touchdown, but Brownsville Veterans keep running down the clock and preserved the victory.
PSJA North finished with 220 yards on the ground, Rene Ramirez had 111 yards on seven carries and Rodriguez finished with 76 yards on eight carries with two scores.
The Raiders coach wasn’t about to hang his head.
“I’m really proud of the kids, they fought all the way through. We felt like we ran out of time,” Pena said. “We lost to a good football team, they’re very talented.”
As for all yards on the ground and none in the air, it didn’t matter to Cantu.
“I love it, I don’t care about stats, we don’t care about individual stats,” he said. “We just care about the win at the end of the game.”
Rodriguez said the effective running game was the result of a good week of practice.
“We stuck with the running game this week, it came through and we started clicking,” he said. “Our lineman kept pushing and driving them back, I just looked for the hole and hit it. It doesn’t matter who gets the touchdowns, the only thing that matters is that W at the end.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.