KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The combo of Jaime and Justin Galvan stole the show Friday night and helped the Harlingen Cardinals to an 11th straight Bird Bowl win, 41-21, over their cross town rival Harlingen South.
With the victory and a Los Fresnos loss, both Harlingen and Harlingen South are in the playoffs. The Cards missed out on the postseason last year, but have found themselves in a familiar spot.
The Hawks are back in the playoffs since the 2012 season and are in the playoffs for the first time under head coach Brian Ricci.
“We have to finish what we started,” said Cards head coach Manny Gomez. “We go through three seasons, non-district, district and playoffs, now we have Brownsville Rivera up next. Any time you face a Tom Chavez coached team they are going to come ready to play. We are going to enjoy this one for sure and we will be ready to work tomorrow.”
After a Jacob Garza field goal, Jaime Galvan hit Justin Galvan for a 52-yard score that put the Cardinals up 10-0 in the final minutes of the first quarter.
The big plays came in the second quarter, when Harlingen opened up their bag of tricks when Jaime Galvan pitched the ball to Damon Cantu who hit a wide open Justin Galvan for a 46-yard touchdown.
On the next drive Jaime Galvan hit Luke McNabb that put the Cards in cruise control 24-0 midway through the second quarter.
“We had a great game plan,” said Gomez. “And in a big game like tonight it is important that we execute what we worked on in practice and we did that tonight, but I tip my cap to South they came out and made their adjustments, that’s just football.”
While Harlingen held a comfortable 24-7 lead at the half, South scored on an 11-yard, Emilio Quiroz, touchdown that cut the lead to 24-14.
The turning point in the second half was when Garza drilled a 46-yard field goal pushing Harlingen’s lead 27-14 with 3:52, not only did the Cardinals extend their lead, but regained the momentum.
“Anytime you can put points up, it does something to your opponent, but it is something we believe in, we believe in our kickers,” said Gomez. “If we are in range there are no questions asked, we will go out there and get it, it was great execution on their end.”
The knockout punch came on 3rd and 20 from the Hawk 21-yard line. Jaime Galvan stepped up and hit Rayden Berry in the corner of the end zone that put the Cards ahead for good 34-14. Justin Galvan capped off his big night with a rushing touchdown, Justin Galvan would finish with three scores on the night.
“It is a brother affair, we are seeing a sophomore grow up before our eyes,” Gomez said of Justin Galvan. “Jaime had some big plays tonight and it speaks to their will and character and that is true brotherhood right there, going to war for each other.”
The Cardinals will now head into the final week of the regular season when they host Brownsville Rivera, while South will travel to Brownsville to take on the Hanna Eagles.