BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — After Edinburg Vela’s second touchdown of the night, Weslaco East needed to put up points quickly.
The East offense started to get rolling. Junior Ramsey Vasquez took a handoff and ran right into the line, like he had so many times on Friday.
“Ian Ochoa wrapped up his legs,” senior middle linebacker Luis Gutierrez said. “Richard Campos got a little clip on his arm, and I just happened to put my helmet right on the ball and have it bounce into my arms. It was a good play on all three parts and as a defense.”
After the play, Gutierrez returned to the sideline to collect his share of Vela’s turnover chain, and joy poured out of him.
The fumble recovery clinched the win for the SaberCats, and the undefeated season and District 31-6A championship.
Edinburg Vela (10-0, 6-0) beat Weslaco East (5-4, 4-2) 21-0 at Richard R. Flores Stadium on Friday in The Monitor’s Game of the Week.
“We were watching the weather all week,” Vela coach John Campbell said. Campbell clinched his second straight district title and undefeated season at Vela on Friday.
“We were thinking, ‘of all the teams, you don’t want to play Weslaco East in the wind and the rain.’ We felt that was a concern because the conditions could limit us, more so than those guys. We came in wanting to use our backfield rotation, so if it got into a slugfest we could still execute. Which is exactly what happened.”
After the game, another emotion poured out of Gutierrez: love.
Linebackers coach Jaime Perez Sr. is one of only a handful of Vela coaches who have remained at Vela over the past four years — all four years of Gutierrez’s career.
“He has traveled with me throughout my four years here at Vela High School,” Gutierrez said of Perez. “He played a big part in my life.
“My mom got sick my sophomore year. He was there when I needed somebody to fall back to. When I can’t really express myself, or if I’m having a troubled day, I like to go back and talk to coach Perez. He’s there when I need somebody.”
After the game, Gutierrez and Perez embraced. The pair took in the moment, reflecting on what has been a long grind over the years.
“It feels amazing man,” Gutierrez said. “To have that goose egg on the board, this is what we have been practicing for all week. Knowing that all our work all offseason paid off is great. Rewarding coach Campbell with back-to-back district titles after he came in brand new last year, I know he must feel great about that. We do as a team, and I’m just glad our hard work paid off.”
Weslaco East’s first drive of the game was a precursor of things to come. East controlled the ball, powering the run down the middle. Ramsey Vasquez was the heavy lifter, but the Wildcats got five rushers involved on the 60-yard drive. The Wildcats had a chip shot field goal lined up on fourth down, but sophomore Ivan Mendoza blocked the kick, his eighth block of the season. Senior Ramsey Amador scooped the ball up and returned it to the 40.
“I think that might be one of the biggest things,” Campbell said. “We did not play well defensively on that drive, at all. We got a stop and got them behind the chains. Got the field goal unit out there. We have a lot of confidence in our block units. They had a little bit of a mishandled snap, and Ivan comes up big in the clutch, again. On top of that, I think we flipped the field on the return. That was definitely a huge sequence of events. Gave us a chance to settle in a little bit on defense, make a few sideline adjustments, and the rest is history.”
Vela’s first score came on a third-and-medium pass play. Sophomore quarterback AJ Sotelo had routes underneath, designed to pick up the first down, but he spotted senior receiver Aziel Garcia motoring toward the end zone. Sotelo put the pass in a perfect spot, Garcia hauled it in for the 31-yard touchdown reception.
“I was very impressed with how he threw the ball,” senior tight end Nico Rodriguez said. “He was ready and focused all day. He was prepared for this game.”
To get to the touchdown, Sotelo needed a few clutch catches to keep the drive alive, and he got them from Rodriguez. On a third-and-long around midfield, Sotelo rifled a pass to Rodriguez who caught it on his knees for a first down.
“It got us started, because we were in a little bit of a slump,” ever the baseball player Rodriguez said. “We weren’t quite on our game. Once that drive started, we just kept going and we built off of that.”
Sotelo picked up the SaberCats second score with a 9-yard run into the end zone. The third score came on a perfect fade pass to senior receiver Daniel Enriquez.
“AJ has grown week-to-week all year long,” Campbell said. “We still have to remind ourselves that he is only a sophomore. Being a quarterback is about being able to manage a game. How much he has grown in that capacity showed tonight. He picked up a couple big third-down conversions. We give him the opportunity to check down into and out of plays. He was making the right checks, and when he wasn’t sure, he was checking with us on the sideline. I thought he played a heck of a ballgame.”
After the game, the SaberCats rewarded Campbell with an ice bath. Maybe more of a punishment: “It was cold,” Campbell said with a laugh.
“Going undefeated is a difficult deal,” Campbell said. “Particularly with the schedule we played. And then to finish it off with a quality opponent like Weslaco East, this is one we are going to enjoy this evening. But the bottom line is we are 0-0 tomorrow. I’m proud of the kids, and we are just going to enjoy the moment right now.”
The SaberCats took a lot of pride in being the first team this year to shutout East, and senior defensive lineman Kobe Gipson was a big part of that.
“It wasn’t as hard as we expected it to be,” Gipson said. “We just came out and played Vela football as hard as we could.”
Vela will face off with Harlingen South, and the game will likely be played at Richard R. Flores Stadium. The time and date are still to be announced. East is in a similar scenario, the Wildcats know they will play at Brownsville Hanna in the bi-district round, but the day and time, are still being worked out.