By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers hung on to defeat the Hanna Golden Eagles 51-42 on Saturday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The Eagles (1-4, 0-3 District 32-6A) were pesky all night and, despite trailing big early, continued to hang around and remain within striking distance until the very end.
Trailing 31-22 heading into halftime, Hanna answered every punch the Chargers (5-1, 3-0) threw.
The Eagles jumped on the board first during the third quarter and trimmed the lead to three points with a 4-yard run by Jaime Gonzalez.
The back-and-forth scoring continued until the end. The Chargers’ Rey Garza caught a 50-yard pass from Marcus Castillo, which was answered by Andy Lopez of Hanna on a 12-yard run.
A persistent running attack down the stretch was too much for Hanna, as Derrik Rodriguez scored twice — once from 6 yards out and then from 17 away — and converted a crucial fourth down during the fourth quarter to seal the game.
“The boys up front, our offensive line, paved the way,” Chargers coach David Cantu said. “Derrik (Rodriguez) put it on his back tonight. On fourth down, I looked at Derrik, and he said, ‘I’ve got it, we’ve got it,’ and that belief that he had is all I needed to hear.”
The Chargers were behind early after a botched punt gave Hanna excellent field position, and they capitalized on it with a 10-yard run by Brando Barrera.
Carlos Garza responded with a 33-yard scamper for the first of 24 unanswered points for the Chargers. Marcus Castillo ran for a 3-yard score to close out the first quarter and added a touchdown run from 5 yards out to open the second. Beto Trevino capped the string of points with a 22-yard field goal.
The Chargers scored once more that half on a 75-yard sprint by Rodriguez, but it was sandwiched between two TD runs by Hanna’s Andy Lopez, one from 23 yards away and the other from 2 yards out.
“It was a heck of a game,” Hanna coach Rene Medrano said. “The kids played well on both teams, somebody had to lose. We’ll just move on and regroup and get out there next week.”
Hanna will play the Lopez Lobos at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and Brownsville Veterans will play host to the San Benito Greyhounds at 7 p.m. Oct. 18. Both games will be played at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.