HARLINGEN — The Harlingen Cardinals picked up their fourth straight win Friday night, defeating the Brownsville Rivera Raiders 45-20 in a game they dominated for three quarters.
“(Rivera) had some pretty good schemes and they made some smart calls, so it took us a little while (to get going),” said Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez. “But it’s about making adjustments and adapting, and over-coming and that’s what we were able to do.”
Aside from the connection between seniors quarterback Daniel Ramirez and receiver Ethan Martinez, Harlingen’s offense turned in a lackluster first-half performance. Ramirez hit Martinez for a 30-yard passing touchdown late in the second quarter, but the other two scores were set up by big special teams plays.
The Cardinals blocked a Raiders punt after Rivera’s first offensive drive, which led to the first touchdown pass between Ramirez and Martinez. Then, in the final minute of the first half, junior Joe Reyna returned a punt more than 60 yards to give Harlingen the ball inside the red zone. Sophomore kicker Jacob Garza hit a 23-yard field goal to give the Cardinals a 17-0 lead at halftime.
“We truly do not take plays off at Harlingen when it comes to special teams,” Gomez said. “You got three phases that we emphasize. We look at everything, not just offense and defense.”
Harlingen’s offense was significantly more efficient in the second half after making adjustments to counter Rivera’s defensive schemes. Ramirez completed all but one of his passes in the third quarter after completing less than half of his attempts in the first half. He found Reyna for an 18-yard touchdown pass midway through the third, then junior running back Ralph Castellanos scored on a 21-yard scamper.
The Raiders continued to play hard despite their deficit and took advantage of Harlingen’s personnel changes in the fourth quarter.
Senior quarterback Nicholas Blanco found the end zone twice on runs of 5 and 8 yards, and the Raiders defense added a touchdown on a fumble recovery to cut the lead to 18 with five minutes remaining.
A failed onside kick and a costly Raider penalty led to the fourth Harlingen score of the second half to seal the victory for the Cardinals.
“We never gave up and played the whole four quarters, and I’m proud of our guys for doing that,” Rivera head coach Tom Chavez said. “Harlingen’s a great team and it’s a tough district that we’re in but I give a lot of credit to our guys and we just have to keep working.”