BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
MISSION — Mission Veterans faced doubt early in the second quarter, but the Valley’s lone undefeated 5A team would not be denied when the night was over.
Mission Veterans quarterback Landry Gilpin turned in what was his finest statistical performance of the year thus far, throwing for 359 yards, a season-high five touchdowns and rushing for three more in the team’s 61-38 win against Sharyland Pioneer. But it wasn’t a flaw-free effort.
Deep in Patriot territory, Gilpin fumbled on a running play, his first turnover of the season. The ball was recovered by the Diamondbacks at the Patriots 15-yard line. Pioneer capitalized on the mistake by way of a touchdown pass from quarterback Jacob Rosales to receiver Andrew Moss to put Pioneer up 10-7 in the second.
Later in the quarter, Gilpin threw his first interception of 2017, as well.
“We fought that through the support we had on the sideline,” Gilpin said. “Every time we came off the field, our defense let us know that they had our back, and they were playing outstanding in the first half. They were going to keep us in the game as long as they could.”
The 10-7 deficit for Veterans (6-0, 4-0) lasted just 1:51 of game clock before Gilpin ran in his first score of the game to put the Patriots back on top.
Before the game, Gilpin got the attention of his father, Mission Veterans coach David Gilpin, and pointed out a sign held by a Pioneer fan.
“The sign said, ‘Pioneer football versus Landry,’” coach Gilpin said. “What about the other 230 kids we have in our program? That’s the kind of stuff that’ll rile us up. On our first play, we threw a bubble screen to (wide receiver) Mikey (Garcia), and he took it down the sideline for a touchdown. The first thing Landry did was come off the sideline and say to me, ‘Landry who?’”
“I’m with my team, and I know what we’ve all gone through,” Gilpin said. “I’m not a one-man team. Our defense is outstanding. Our running backs and receivers are having great games every game. It was kind of crazy to single me out like that when we’ve had a team that’s had a lot of success in other areas.”
Garcia is chief among those wide receivers making his mark for the Patriots. The sophomore entered Week 6 with four touchdown receptions. Garcia caught four more touchdowns on Friday night, including one in the third quarter, when Mission Veterans outscored Pioneer 33-14.
“I started off pretty slow with three drops,” Garcia said. “My coach snapped me out of it, and so did our fans. Our fans are crazy. We love them and appreciate their support.”
Pioneer (2-3, 1-2) coach Jason Wheeler saw two different sides from his team in each half, but neither at the same time.
“We played well defensively in the first half,” Wheeler said. “We contained Landry a little bit and forced some turnovers, but couldn’t get much going offensively. And then, we were better offensively in the second half, but not very good defensively. We’ll need to regroup and face a real good Rio Grande City team next week.”