GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
LA JOYA — Through one half of Thursday’s game, Edcouch-Elsa was struggling to pull away from La Joya Juarez-Lincoln. Quarterback Marco Aguinaga had done enough to build a 7-point halftime lead, but the No. 3-ranked team in the Valley hardly looked crisp.
Then, the Yellowjackets came out of the break with a fresh offensive look. Instead of mostly empty sets, Edcouch-Elsa lined up as many as three running backs on almost every play, either pounding their way into the end zone or using play-action to connect on deep throws. Before 6 minutes had gone by, Edcouch-Elsa had found the end zone three times, turning the contest into a blowout in an eventual 47-14 win at La Joya ISD Stadium.
“The offense was flat,” Edcouch-Elsa coach Joe Marichalar said. “They got together and said, ‘Look, they’re giving us this. They’re putting everyone in the back, and the box is light.’ When the box is light, you have to run the ball. So that’s what we did in the second half, and it turned out pretty good for us.”
With the win, Edcouch-Elsa closes out its three-game non-district slate 2-1, including a 34-30 win against Edinburg Vela to snap that team’s 16-game regular-season win streak.
E-E begins the District 32-5A season next week against Donna North.
“We’re on a positive run right now,” Aguinaga said. ”Today wasn’t the best that we’ve played, but we still got the win. So I’m proud of the way the guys played today.”
In the first half, as in E-E’s opening two games of the season, the offense was all Aguinaga. He threw for 170 yards and two scores and was also the team’s leading rusher, with four carries for 19 yards.
The Huskies did all they could to pester him throughout the night, but he consistently shrugged off, stepped over or ran around would-be tacklers, extending plays long enough for receivers to get open. He rolled out to his right and found JJ Flores for a 34-yard score in the first quarter, then found AJ Rodriguez down the left seam for a 39-yard strike in the second.
“Marco is a playmaker,” Marichalar said. “He’ll let us know, ‘Coach, just let me be me, and let me do what I do.’ Sometimes, you have to just let him be Marco, and that’s what he does.”
In the second half, Edcouch-Elsa hit Juarez-Lincoln with an entirely new offense. Whereas the first half had been almost exclusively shotgun spread, the Yellowjackets opened the second half with Aguinaga under center, surrounded by three backs.
After entering the halftime break with five carries for 22 yards, the Yellowjackets ran the ball five times for 40 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter, capped by a 19-yard scoring run by John Mike Gonzalez. Listed as a defensive back on the Yellowjackets’ roster, Gonzalez had not carried the ball in the team’s first two games.
“We’re just catering to what we have,” Marichalar said. “We have a pretty good offensive line. Obviously, we have a passing game. But when it’s not on, we know we can ground and pound and give you that diversity with the strength of our offensive line.”
Edcouch-Elsa’s offense looked extremely comfortable in every facet out of the tight set. Aguinaga found Rodriguez for a 49-yard gain down the right sideline, then Flores took a handoff and ran left on an end-around play that completely fooled the Huskies defense, resulting in a 22-yard score.
After a surprise onside kick, E-E scored again on a 14-yard, play-action pass from Aguinaga to Flores that made the score 34-7.
“We saw that they couldn’t guard us, and we attacked the mismatches,” Flores said.
Edcouch-Elsa continued to pour it on in the fourth, with Jorge Gomez running for a 61-yard touchdown that eclipsed his rushing total in the team’s first two games combined. He also added a 1-yard score later in the period.
Aguinaga finished 12-of-25 passing for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns, with Flores (3 catches, 75 yards, 2 TDs) and Rodriguez (4 catches, 103 yards, 1 TD) leading the way through the air. Once E-E went to the option ground game, the backs started to come alive, as well. Gomez finished with 7 carries for 119 yards and two scores.
“We’re comfortable with that,” Aguinaga said. “We practice that day in and day out. That’s one of our good offenses that we run.”
Thursday also marked the final non-district game for Juarez-Lincoln, which opens play in District 30-6A next week against McAllen Rowe.
Eddie Hernandez scored the Huskies’ lone touchdown, while Adonis Barillas led the team with 18 carries for 89 yards.
Albert Martinez returned a kickoff 93 yards for a score after the game was well out of reach.
The contest became chippy during the fourth quarter, as Juarez-Lincoln’s Benito Gonzalez and an Edcouch-Elsa player were ejected from the game after exchanging punches following a play. Juarez-Lincoln’s Eliutt Gonzalez was also ejected a few snaps later.