By MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers came out swinging against the Porter Cowboys and quickly enforced their will.
The Chargers scored early and often as they dismissed the Cowboys 39-3 for their third straight District 16-5A Division I win Friday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Chargers junior quarterback Liam Longoria led the way, passing for 188 yards and three touchdowns on 9 of 19 passing.
“We were just seeing what we saw in the film and in practice,” he said. “We knew where we could exploit (Porter), and we knew what to expect from them. It was work in practice and executing. We came out and did our thing. My teammates came out, played well, did their job and it made my job easier.”
The Chargers improve to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in district play. The Cowboys lost their fifth straight and dropped to 1-5 overall and 0-5 in district.
The Chargers totaled 305 yards of offense, including 117 on the ground with six different ball carriers as they were without the district’s top rusher Mauricio Garza, who will be out indefinitely with a collarbone injury.
Guadalupe Moran and Gilbert Moran combined for 105 yards rushing and two scores.
“We’re really proud of (Moran) and Gilbert Garcia, who stepped in at running back for Mauricio Garza,” Chargers coach David Cantu said. “They did a fantastic job, the offensive line did what they usually do, which is play lights out.
Leading by one touchdown, Longoria showed his escape ability on the next scoring drive as he scrambled to the left and hit receiver Elijah Masten in the back of the end zone for a 29-yard score on fourth down to make it 14-0.
“I tell you, (Longoria) reminds me of the old Captain America Roger Staubach out there,” Cantu said. “He’s out there extending plays. He’s really good at doing that and he’s always looking downfield, never looks at the rush.
“Another kudos to the receiving corps, they made a lot of great plays,” he added. “They’re coached by Jesus Garcia, who does an outstanding job with them every day. It’s no surprise that they make big plays, they do it in practice every day.”
Longoria escaped again two possessions later, this time hitting Masten in stride for a 41-yard score to make it 21-3.
“Hats off to (Brownsville Veterans),” Porter coach Carlos Uresti said. “They do a good job, the coaches, and that’s a heck of a QB right there. He’s very elusive. They beat us twice there and that kind of breaks our back a little bit. I’m proud of our defense, they came back and played tough the whole game.”
Masten caught three passes for 85 yards and two scores.
The Chargers led 29-3 heading into the break as the Cowboys’ defense had no answers and could not get going on offense.
Porter’s lone scoring drive was a 14-play, 62-yard drive while trailing 14-3 that featured a fourth-down conversion on an Oscar Garcia 10-yard fake punt run and a Ulises Guzman 32-yard run.
The Cowboys ultimately settled for a 31-yard Oscar Garcia field goal.
“We know how hard it is to put up points on Vets, just like any other team,” Uresti said. “We get inside the red zone, we want to come out with seven points, not three. It’s always tough to settle for a field goal. We have to do a better job and execute better in the red zone as well.”
The Cowboys recorded 205 yards of offense.
Guzman finished the night with 59 yards on 11 carries, and quarterback Kevin Garcia ran for 72 yards and threw for 49 more.
“We’re extremely proud of our defense and we held up extremely well,” Cantu said. “Overall, the defense played well, the 1s and 2s. I’m just proud of everybody, both units.”
Longoria hit Damian Maldonado for a 24-yard touchdown pass late in the third, and Israel Barron nailed a 36-yard field goal to cap the scoring for the night.
Maldonado finished with three grabs for 54 yards and the score.
Brownsville Veterans will have some time before hitting the field again as they head into the Week 7 bye.