By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Porter hope for a repeat of last year’s results in their district openers.
The Chargers play host to Harlingen South at Sams Memorial Stadium and the Cowboys are on the road against Donna North at Bennie La Prade Stadium in Donna. Both games kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday night.
Last year in the District 32-6A opener, Brownsville Veterans took home a 28-21 road victory from the Hawks in Harlingen, and Porter defeated the Chiefs 31-21 in their District 32-5A opener at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The Chargers bring the best offensive team in District 32-6A to its matchup at 489 yards per game. Harlingen South is last in defense, allowing 376. But those numbers don’t tell the whole truth.
“They’re 0-2 against Edinburg Vela, who’s No. 1 in a lot of polls in the entire Valley, and then played the Weslaco (High) Panthers, who is also highly ranked,” Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu said. “They have some great athletes, they’re well-coached and Harlingen South is Harlingen South. We know we’re going to have our hands full.”
So much so that Cantu began preparing for this game during the bye last week. And defensively, Cantu and his staff were thankful for more time to prepare.
“We needed the extra time because Harlingen South has an above average amount of formations to prepare for,” Cantu said. “A huge part of our defense is alignments, so we just wanted to make sure that we’re OK in that part of it.”
The Hawks average 369 yards per game, and most of that has been on the ground. The Chargers allow 319 but they will also have a pair of defensive backs returning from injury, which should help improve those numbers.
“We are hopeful to get off to a good start,” Cantu said. “It’s going to take a great effort at the end of the night to be 1-0, and we know that. We’re not taking anything for granted, we respect them a great deal.”
As for Porter, the Cowboys like to run the ball — 307 yards on the ground per game — and the Cowboys are facing a Donna North team that allows 200. So Porter’s game plan is simple: run the ball and run it some more.
“That’s going to be our game plan. We know our run game is No. 1,” Porter coach Tom Campos said. “We’re going to keep running until they stop it and force us to do something else.”
George Gutierrez leads the Cowboys rushing attack with 563 yards and seven touchdowns on the season through three games.
The Chiefs’ defense is third in district, allowing 304 yards per game, and will be forced to stop Gutierrez. The senior running back averages 6.7 yards per carry and is familiar with carrying the load for the offense. He carried the ball nearly 40 times against Lopez in the victory during Week 2.
Campos said they would continue to run because they are running efficiently.
“We’re averaging almost 5 yards a carry running the ball,” he said. “So every two plays is a first down, so we’re going to keep doing that.”
Even though Donna North is winless this season after going winless during their first varsity season, they have the talent and it’s just a matter of time. And the Cowboys aren’t overlooking them for a second.
“They’re just looking for that breakout game,” Campos said.
Porter is focused and ready to get off to a quick start.
“Getting started off 1-0 in district is huge,” Campos said. “It allows you to breathe a little easier looking ahead, but it doesn’t get any easier. Four or five wins gets you into the playoffs, so any advantage we can get early on is huge for us.”
Harlingen South coach Lanny Wilson and Donna North coach Tommy Sauceda were unable to be reached for comment.
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.