By ANDREW CRUM | Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial battled back-and-forth with Edinburg Vela all night Friday, but unfortunately a couple mistakes made the difference in the end.
With the game tied at 20 heading into the fourth quarter, the Chargers had three straight drives that resulted in a turnover and the Sabercats took advantage with a pair of touchdowns and defeated Brownsville Veterans 34-20 in The Brownsville Herald’s Game of the Week at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“That was a heavyweight fight, back-and-forth, knockout type punches and someone’s got to win and someone’s got to lose,” Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu said. “Our kids played hard … with maximum effort from beginning to end.”
The Chargers’ offense threw two interceptions and fumbled once as Edinburg Vela scored twice in the fourth quarter to break the tie. The Sabercats (3-0) got a 25-yard touchdown pass from Nate Garcia to Brandon Guzman and a couple minutes later Sam Valenzuela found the end zone after a 7-yard run to push the lead to 34-20 with 6:09 left to play.
Brownsville Veterans (2-1) gave itself a chance after an interception by Sammy Chapa, but couldn’t capitalize and turned the ball over on downs.
“That’s why you play … that’s why Friday night lights is so special because of moments like these,” Cantu said. “I know we have a football team that never points fingers … they’re never palms up … that is going to play extremely hard from beginning to end and I can go to sleep good tonight knowing that.”
Edinburg Vela’s defense made the plays when it needed to to shift momentum in the final quarter.
“We had to get some stops,” Edinburg Vela coach John Campbell said. “We felt good about how we played early on. (Vasquez) is a tough kid … he’s a tough guy to tackle. It was just a matter of maintaining our composure. We we’re never really flustered … I’m not trying to sound arrogant … we needed to stick to our guns.”
It was back-and-forth throughout. Edinburg Vela scored on its opening drive when Austin Garza hit a 43-yard field goal to give the Sabercats an early 3-0 edge.
After Brownsville Veterans punted on it’s first drive, Edinburg Vela drove 89 yards and capped its drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Aaron Alvarez for a 10-0 lead with 4:14 left in the first quarter.
After the teams traded punts, the Chargers finally got their offense rolling when senior quarterback Gustavo Vasquez finished his team’s first scoring drive with a 7-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to three points with 3:44 left in the second quarter.
Edinburg Vela answered with another touchdown run by Alvarez for a 17-7 lead with 44 seconds left in the first half.
Brownsville Veterans wasn’t done and needed just one play to respond as senior running back Abel Martinez found a seam and went 86 yards for the score. Unfortunately, the extra point was blocked and the Chargers would trail at the break 17-13.
Brownsville Veterans took a 20-17 lead in the third quarter with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Vasquez to Carlos Galindo with 9:02 left in the third quarter.
Edinburg Vela answered on its next drive with a 32-yard field goal by Garza to tie the game at 20 with 3:42 left in the third.
Martinez finished with 138 yards on 11 carries, including an 86-yard highlight touchdown run for Brownsville Veterans.
Alvarez finished with 72 yards on 19 carries and a pair of touchdowns for the Sabercats.
Campbell was happy to come out with the road win, but it’s a new season with district starting in a couple weeks.
“Coming in we knew they were a very good and well-coached program and we expected a ball game like this,” he said. “We were looking forward to this game for the competitiveness and gave us a good chance to see where we’re at … but it doesn’t matter, we’re 0-0 now.”
Cantu said this loss wouldn’t discourage his team as they head to a bye week before it opens District 32-5A play against Pace on Sept. 30.
“You can learn a lot from a loss and you can learn a lot from a win too,” he said. “We’ll learn from this and do the best we can to prepare for district. Our coaching staff has done an amazing job keeping our kids focused and our kids are so darn coachable … I wouldn’t trade them for any other team in the state of Texas.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @andrewmcrum.