MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
While the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers are trying to stay in the playoff race in the 10-team District 16-5A Division I, the Porter Cowboys are trying to shake off a slow start and make a run to get in the conversation over the final five weeks.
Both the Cowboys and the Chargers will look to get a win towards their goal as they face off in The Brownsville Herald’s Game of the Week, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. tonight at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.
BVM (3-2, 2-2) is fresh off a 36-13 road loss at Rio Grande City, while Porter (1-4, 1-3) was blanked 49-9 at the hands of Mission Veterans Memorial.
Chargers head coach David Cantu and his squad are anxious to get on the field after the road loss and are determined to put the ugly loss behind them.
“I think coming off a painful loss as far as just how you feel after a game, I don’t know if I’ve been more excited,” he said. “I feel like it’s a rebirth this particular week. We’re not looking back, just looking forward. I can’t wait to see how these kids play on Friday; I’m pretty excited.”
The Cowboys are in the midst of a three-game gauntlet featuring matchups with Mission Veterans, Brownsville Veterans and Rio Grande City in consecutive weeks.
Porter head coach Carlos Uresti remains confident that his team can be competitive, but only if they are healthy and limit mistakes.
“We had a tough loss last week and had a couple of injuries that didn’t help,” he said. “No excuses and our kids are putting in the time and working hard. We get some kids back for this game, so we should be alright, but it goes back to hurting ourselves. Last week, we had four turnovers and you won’t win the game doing stuff like that. The week before (vs Lopez) we had one penalty the first half. It’s truly us holding ourselves accountable and limiting our mistakes. All three losses in district have been the penalties and the turnovers.”
The Cowboys had a rough time last Friday, turning the ball over four times for the second time in three weeks and gained just 143 yards of total offense against the district’s top defensive team, while giving up 450 yards.
This week, the Porter’s matchup looks to be a favorable one on paper as rushing quarterback Kevin Garcia, who has rushed for 511 yards and nine touchdowns this season, faces a Chargers defense giving up 359 yards per game, which is eighth in the district.
Despite the score in last week’s loss, the Chargers nearly pitched a first-half shutout even after its offense turned the ball over two times in the first 24 minutes.
“We see a very well-coached football team in Porter,” head coach David Cantu said. “They are doing a good job of getting the ball in the hands of their weapons and it all starts with their quarterback Kevin Garcia. Our goal defensively is to do whatever we can to make it difficult for him. That being said, that’s what every team says when going into a game against Porter. That’s a Challenge, but our kids are after it.”
While Porter’s offense goes as Garcia goes, the BVM offense is looking to get some pressure off quarterback Liam Longoria, who felt the RGC pass rush last week, passing for a season low 109 yards, but recorded the team’s only two scores on runs of 50 and 66 yards. He finished the night with a season-high 198 yards on the ground.
The Chargers will look to add running back Mauricio Garza back in the mix at running back after the speedster started the season at receiver. Garza led the district in rushing last season before going down with a broken collarbone and has just nine yards on the ground this season.
Porter had a rough go on defense last week, but feels if its offense can limit turnovers, its defense can find ways to get off the field.
“We gave Mission Vets a lot of short fields, but it doesn’t really show how good our defense played in that first half,” Uresti said. “Even though we gave up a lot of points, we gave up a lot of short fields. I like the matchup this week. Our defense has been coming around from Day 1 and they’re leading our offense, we feed off of them. I’m hoping everything works out for us. It looks like everybody will be able to play this game after injuries.”