By Jesus Sanchez | The Brownsville Herald
Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Hanna were able to see each other’s positives and negatives on offense and defense, but it was the Golden Eagles who defeated the Chargers 14-0 in Friday night’s scrimmage at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“We obviously made a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball,” Hanna head coach Mark Guess said after the scrimmage. “We were able to overcome them at times but, I mean, as the season goes on, all teams get better. Both of us on the field tonight will be better, so are our opponents. We just got to make sure we clean up those mistakes and minimize them.”
Chargers ran the ball often during the controlled portion and live action of the scrimmage but, ultimately, failed to find the end zone on both occasions.
The Golden Eagles scored twice during the first quarter of live action.
Hanna’s Cesar Mancias and Aaron Frausto each found the end zone after successful runs down the middle.
Eagle quarterback Victor Campos was able to make big plays for Hanna, moving the ball through the air and ground multiple times.
However, Hanna had multiple pre-snap penalties, committing three false starts in four plays.
“It’s just unacceptable in our part,” Guess said. “We’ll go back and watch film and clean up those mistakes.”
During the second quarter of live action, the Chargers were able to shut out the Eagles, at one point recovering a forced fumble.
“First of all, this Hanna team we played is going to be one of the top five I believe in the Valley, just a great competitor tonight,” Chargers head coach David Cantu said. “We knew we had a long way to go and there’s going to be a video session tomorrow that’s very important for the teams.
“We’re close in a lot of things, but close isn’t good enough; that and, like every other team right now, the conditioning could be better. That’s not a bad thing. We want to peak at the right time and right now, it’s not important for us to peak but it’s important for us to get better next week.”
In Hanna’s last offensive possession, the Chargers played their best defense, allowing no more than six yards and forcing a sack.
However, the Eagles sealed the game by forcing a fumble on Veterans’ last possession.
“I’m real pleased with our defense,” Guess said. “Anytime you shut a team out, that’s always a good thing. Once again, this is early in the season, both teams are real green and making mistakes. We just got to work and get better.”
The Chargers had trouble finding a rhythm on offense at times in the controlled part of the scrimmage.
Veterans found itself in Hanna’s territory a few times, but wasn’t able to find the end zone as the clock ran out.
The Chargers used their ground attack to test the Eagles’ defense.