By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Harlingen High Cardinals’ defense put up a stellar performance against the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers’ run-heavy offense.
And with the help of running back Leo Tienda, who ran for 189 yards and two touchdowns, the Cardinals claimed a 26-6 victory over the Chargers in District 32-6A action Friday night at Boggus Stadium in Harlingen.
“To be honest, the credit goes to the guys playing on the Cardinals’ defense and coach Manny Gomez,” Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu said. “He’s an intelligent coach that prides himself by taking away what people do best. We tried a lot of different things, but the things they were doing in the box were effective. Some of the things they did gave us a lot of problems.”
The Harlingen High defense intercepted a pass and later blocked a punt that led to the game’s first touchdown. But the biggest difference was that the Cardinals held the Chargers’ offense to 76 yards, ridiculously below their average of just more than 400 yards per game.
“I knew we were going to slow them down, but I didn’t know we’d be that dominant,” Harlingen High coach Manny Gomez said. “The kids bought into themselves, they know they can be great, but things haven’t been going our way lately. The bottom line is these kids challenged each other in pregame, and it was nice to see that perfect effort out there.”
Brownsville Veterans had its opportunities. Despite forcing two Harlingen High fumbles, the Chargers failed to capitalize and missed two first-half field goals.
The Cardinals took advantage of Brownsville Veterans’ offensive woes, and Giovanni Guillen hit from 37 and 35 yards to give Harlingen High the 6-0 lead at the break.
Tienda scored both touchdowns during the second half, the first on a 3-yard run and the second on an 18-yard run. Guillen connected on another pair of field goals for the Cardinals.
But Harlingen High didn’t do anything different, except make some minor adjustments.
“We just sharpened up the things that were working for us (in the second half). It’s that simple,” Gomez said.
Harlingen High quarterback Jesse Castro completed 4 of 7 passes for 51 yards and ran for 127 yards on 21 carries.
Brownsville Veterans finally got on the scoreboard during the fourth quarter on a 9-yard run by Derrik Rodriguez, but the damage was already done.
“We had a great week of practice despite the injuries we had,” Cantu said. “We felt confident coming in, and sometimes this happens.”
Cantu was especially pleased with his defense’s effort.
“We played well enough to win defensively,” Cantu said. “Our defense gave us plenty of opportunities, but we couldn’t cash in.”
Gomez was happy to get the victory and for what it meant in the standings toward a possible playoff berth.
“Every coach prepares to win, so it’s definitely a great win for us,” he said. “We don’t worry about what happen in the past, we know we control our destiny through our effort.”
After two straight district losses, the Cardinals were feeling much better tonight.
“Anytime you win, it provides confidence. We were able to win because we were able to execute,” Gomez said. “It’s certain things that come to fruition through hard work. It was a fun evening.”
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.