By MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
After a power outage Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium forced a postponement, it was the Lopez Lobos who came out electric and built a 17-point first-half lead only to see it disappear after the PSJA Southwest Javelinas put up 21 consecutive points.
It could have been another setback in what has been a long season, but the winless Lobos were not to be denied.
Down four with no timeouts and less than two minutes remaining, Lopez quarterback Jose Cruz led his team on an eight-play, 71-yard drive, culminating in a 25-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Jesus Serrata, lifting the Lobos to a 24-21 District 16-5A Division I win over the Javelinas on Saturday at Sams Stadium.
“We always go over our two-minute drill over and over for situations like this,” Lopez coach Armando Gutierrez said. “The kids didn’t bow down to adversity. We knew we still had a couple of minutes and we knew we could score, and we could go to the air on (PSJA Southwest). We were smart enough to do what we did, and at the end of the day, the execution was a big factor.”
The Javelinas (3-3 in district) took the lead with 10:43 left to play on an 8-yard run by Chris Sanchez and then halted a 12-play, 63-yard Lopez drive on the ensuing possession when defensive back Luis Banda intercepted a Cruz jump pass in the end zone with six minutes to play.
PSJA Southwest, however, failed to muster another stand with the game on the line, as Serrata found himself wide open in the middle of its defense to give Lopez (1-5 in district) its first win of the season.
“I made a bad call there on that last play,” Javelinas coach Mike Evans said. “Lopez made a great call. They outplayed us today, totally. Lopez’s coaching and those kids, they played hard. Their coaches coached them great, and they outcoached us and outplayed us.”
Cruz had a big day, passing for 201 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, and rushing for 124 yards and one score to lead the Lobos’ offense.
After an opening kickoff Friday night, the Lobos started the game on its own 29 and drove 71 yards in nine plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 4-yard run by Cruz.
The good fortune continued after Lopez’s Santiago Garcia came up with a strip-sack to set the Lobos up at the Southwest 34, where Cruz hit Aaron Garcia on the next play for a touchdown pass to make it 14-0 with 8:36 left in the first quarter.
That was the story early for the Javelinas offense, which turned the ball over twice and gave the ball up on downs within their first four possessions.
“Our offense had too many mistakes, too many penalties and blown assignments,” Evans said. “We can’t beat anybody when we do that. We got in the red zone and didn’t score a couple of times, and you just can’t win games like that.”
A Lopez field goal made it a 17-0 early in the second quarter, but they were its final points until the final drive as the PSJA Southwest defense held Lopez scoreless for the better part of the final three quarters after weathering an early storm.
“Southwest began to bring people off the edge to slow us down a little bit,” Gutierrez said. “But we had to make sure we stayed on point with our blocking assignments. We adjusted, and everything came out pretty well from us.”
The Javelinas woke up and finally got on the board after a 13-yard run by quarterback Ramiro Ramirez with 4:02 left in the first half.
PSJA Southwest recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and took just five plays to punch in another score, this one a Cesar Bocanegra 7-yard score to make it 17-14, the score at the half.
Lopez will continue district play against Pace on Friday night, and PSJA Southwest will play host to Mission Veterans Memorial.
“(Getting our first win) is fantastic,” Gutierrez said. “We’re going to celebrate tonight, but forget it tomorrow and keep working. At the same time, these are very young kids, so just making them believe that at the end of the day, no matter what, they can overcome adversity — that’s a big step in this program.”