By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial offense has been rolling of late and it continued against Donna North.
Gustavo Vasquez led the offensive output with 190 total yards and four touchdowns to help the Chargers defeat the Chiefs 42-15 in a District 32-5A game in Week 10 on Thursday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“We’re practicing with a purpose,” Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu said. “And an understanding that if we keep improving, we may have a chance to play for a while and that’s our goal. We’re happy to get this one and have a chance next week (to earn at least a share of the district title).”
Vasquez finished with 110 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and completed three passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns, both to Keaton Cackley, who had two catches for 64 yards. Abel Martinez added 117 yards and one touchdown on the ground to give Brownsville Veteran Memorial (7-2, 5-1) the district win over Donna North (2-7, 1-5).
“It felt good. It was nice they had confidence in me to make those big plays,” Cackley said regarding his first two varsity touchdowns.
The victory clinched a postseason trip for Brownsville Veterans, but its still in the hunt for at least a share of the district title.
“We have to play like we haven’t won a game,” Cackley said of the team’s mindset ahead of its Week 11 game against Donna High. “Just play and go hard.”
The Chargers’ offense amassed 426 yards, including 335 on the ground and the Brownsville Veterans’ defense did the rest, it forced a fumble and had two sacks and didn’t allow anything on the scoreboard until the second half.
The Chargers got going on their first drive and scored with 8:18 left in the opening quarter after Martinez broke loose for a 54-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead.
A few minutes later after a Donna North punt, Brownsville Veterans scored again. Vasquez found pay dirt after a 20-yard run to give the Chargers a 14-0 edge.
With just over a minute left in the first quarter, Vasquez scored on a 2-yard dive into the end zone and Brownsville Veterans held a 21-0 advantage after one.
The Chargers scored again with 1:25 to play in the half when Vasquez hit Keaton Cackley on a 39-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown and a 28-0 advantage at the break.
Despite moving the chains with first downs, the Chiefs were shutout in the first half and allowed an opportunity to slip away after a fumble.
“We were moving the ball. We had good drives, but just didn’t finish them,” Donna North coach Matthew Rokovich said. “We finished more drives in the second half. Offensively (Brownsville Veterans) is really powerful, really potent and have been all year long.”
In the third quarter, Brownsville Veterans picked up where they left off in the first half. Vasquez hit Cackley on a 25-yard pass for a touchdown and increased the lead to 35-0 with 10:28 left in the third.
Donna North finally got on the board with a 22-yard field goal by Dagoberto Lara with 1:41 left in the third. But the Chargers answered quickly as Fabian Roque added a 47-yard touchdown to push the lead to 42-3.
Donna North finished with 330 yards from its run game, but didn’t capitalize on its drives until the fourth quarter. The Chiefs got back-to-back touchdowns on consecutive drives as Mark Gutierrez had a 2-yard run with 8:39 left and Tony Gomez scored on a 27-yard run with 5:40 to play.
The pair of running backs combined for 217 yards and a touchdown apiece on the ground, but it wouldn’t be enough in the district loss for the Chiefs.
Rokovich hopes to finish the year strong and is already looking forward to improving in the offseason.
“No matter what happens (against Mercedes), its our first offseason together, we’re going to work, get a lot stronger, and do a lot of things to get better,” he said. “I’m really proud of their effort, nobody quit, they fought hard and got after it.
“There’s brighter days ahead for Donna North.”
The victory was highlighted by the offensive production by the Chargers, but the defense continues to improve ahead of the postseason.
“Coach (Mike) Evans has got these kids believing in his scheme,” Cantu said of his defensive coordinator. “They say defense wins championships and we believe we have a defense that can do that.”
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.