By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — No matter which team it takes on each week, Edinburg Economedes senior Bony Rios said his group generally regards itself as underdogs.
Though their record and standing in the RGVSports.com top 10 poll at the start of the year wouldn’t lend credence to that stance, the Jaguars have had sufficient reasons this season for a bumpy road, considering they lost their starting quarterback and top running back, among others, due to injury.
Economedes has remained in the playoff hunt, nonetheless, beating PSJA North 17-7 on Friday in The Monitor’s Game of the Week at PSJA Stadium.
The Jaguars (7-2 overall, 4-2 in district), who were overwhelmingly picked to lose in The Monitor’s Pick-It Line, complicated what appeared to be a predictable top order of the District 31-6A standings by handing PSJA North (7-2, 4-2) its second straight loss.
That put Economedes in a two-way tie for third place in district, along with PSJA North, and Edinburg North (3-6, 3-3) picking up ground in fifth place.
“Everyone counts us out,” Rios said. “So we always have to come out and prove not to sleep on us.”
The Jaguars won for the fourth time in the last five outings with one of their better defensive efforts of the season, holding the Raiders to a season-low in yards (152) and points.
Outside of a 28-yard run by Arturo Beltran that helped set up his 11-yard score in the third quarter, PSJA North was starved for offensive highlights. Beltran alone rushed for 103 of the Raiders’ 125 yards, after the team saw four linemen come away hurt.
It was yet another obstacle for an offense that opened the year averaging 395.5 yards per game through the first four outings, before Bo Adams, their top rusher, was ruled out for the regular season after undergoing surgery to repair a broken collarbone.
“They just hit us in the mouth repeatedly, over and over again, and we didn’t hit back,” PSJA North coach Marcus Kaufmann said.
With defensive lineman Noah Ruiz (dislocated elbow) carted off the field and center Diego Lopez checking out with what was believed to be a torn ACL (the third for the team this season), the Raiders averaged just 2.8 yards per carry compared to Econ’s 3.7.
Though their numbers weren’t too dissimilar from PSJA North’s, the Jaguars capitalized on their opportunities, taking a 14-0 lead into halftime after Allen Arredondo scored on a 3-yard run and quarterback Roger Barrientos totted it 1 yard into the end zone.
They helped pace a rushing attack that used seven ball carriers on Friday. With Mike Medellin slowly recovering from injury the past couple of games, Economedes has used as many as 10 running backs in a single game this season. But with the senior beginning to take form he rushed for a team-high 54 yards on 10 attempts.
Barrientos, who missed three games nursing an injury, completed 2 of 8 passes for 7 yards in his return.
Their insurance score came with 6:14 left to play on a 25-yard field goal by Robert Gonzalez.
Entering the week, Economedes faced an uphill battle in its quest to capture its fourth playoff berth in six years, having to take on two teams ranked in the top 10 of the RGVSports.com poll. In passing the first of those challenges Friday, the Jaguars look ahead next week to Edinburg Vela (8-1, 6-0), the only team in district to have already clinched a playoff berth.
“It’s been sweet,” Econ coach Gabe Peña said. “This is a credit to the coaching staff and the kids because we’ve asked the kids to play out of position the last month and a half with the injuries that we’ve had. Our coaches were creative and I’m proud of them.
“We didn’t give up. We kept fighting the fight. It’s just motivation to keep it going.”