MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — When it looked like momentum had shifted to the Weslaco Panthers side for good, a late mistake gave the Harlingen Cardinals one last opportunity they would not squander.
Up six and trying to run down the clock, a bad snap by Weslaco on a punt gave Harlingen the ball on the Panthers 16-yard line with 2:30 to play in the game.
Despite having trouble finishing drives all night, Harlingen’s Rene Medina ran in a 16-yard game-winning touchdown to give the Cards a 30-29 win over Weslaco on Friday night at Boggus Stadium.
“One thing we emphasize in Cardinal land is that spirit and for how long and how hard you can go,” Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez said. “It took every bit of 48 minutes and sometimes we put ourselves in a bind, but that’s football. We found a way to persevere.”
The win gave Harlingen (1-2) its first win of the season a week before they start District 32-6A play against Brownsville Rivera, and drops the Panthers to 1-3 and hands them their second-straight loss.
Friday night was a game of momentum shifts and missed opportunities for the Panthers, who turned in a solid defensive effort and held Harlingen to one scoring drive aside from Medina’s game-winning one-play drive.
Unfortunately, things just didn’t fall their way and some odd bounces of the ball ultimately cost the Panthers.
The Cards came out with a 70-yard pass to the 2-yard line on their first play of the game from AJ Herrera to Dominic Freeman, but the Panthers held the Cards to a 25-yard field goal to maintain a 7-3 lead.
The Panthers then looked like they would take a 14-10 lead into the half after a Brandon Torres 1-yard run. But on the ensuing kickoff Harlingen’s Freeman recovered his own team’s fumble on the Weslaco 44- yard line and returned it to the house, giving his team a 17-14 lead at the half.
“There were three big mistakes that led to scores. They (Harlingen) didn’t drive on our defense. The defense did the great job; they’re the best,” Weslaco head coach Tony Villarreal said. “Twice we held them to three points. I don’t know how much we held them to, but the defense played lights out tonight; it was a good job.”
In the second half, Harlingen started two drives in Weslaco territory and settled for a pair of field goals from Giovanni Guillen, making it 23-14 late in the third.
One of those came on a Weslaco fumble that gave Harlingen the ball on the Weslaco 20-yard line.
The Panthers took the lead on their next two drives as junior quarterback Desi Rodriguez led Weslaco down the field the next two drives for scores.
Rodriguez found Jonathan Martinez on a 13-yard touchdown pass and then ran in a five-yard touchdown on a quarterback keeper following his team’s onside kick recover to take a 29-23 lead that would not hold up.
The Cards did not move the ball much on offense but looked to Medina and Michael Allen Gonzalez to be the work horses, combining for 109 yards on 25 carries and one score—Medina’s game-winner.
With the injuries this preseason, Gomez will take the win heading into district.
“We believed in the guys who were in there. You fight to the end and great things happen,” Gomez said. “Next week is a new season and you always want to build some sort of momentum.”
Leading Weslaco was running back Eric Gonzalez who rushed for 89 yards on 16 carries and a 40-yard touchdown.