By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
So what if it’s a sunny, hot afternoon of playing football on an artificial surface with temperatures pushing triple digits?
Just give the ball to Jorge.
That’s the formula the Porter Cowboys followed to success Saturday as they defeated the Lopez Lobos 21-16 in the annual “Battle of Southmost” at Sams Memorial Stadium.
More specifically, the plan was to give the ball to Jorge Gutierrez, Porter’s bruising senior running back who did most of the damage in helping his team improve to 2-0 on the young season.
Gutierrez, a 1,300-yard rusher one year ago, was true to form Saturday despite some demanding playing conditions for himself and his teammates as he carried the ball 36 times for 186 yards and all three of Porter’s touchdowns on runs of 1, 14 and 2 yards.
“It was tough, man,” Gutierrez said. “Competition, that’s what it was. Whichever team wanted it more (was going to win).
“I felt like I had a big job today to help my team move the ball,” he added. “The heat was a factor, but I didn’t let it get to me. I felt great running the ball behind our great offensive line. It was a great team effort, offense and defense.”
Lopez (0-2) scored on its first possession and led 7-0 after one quarter, but Porter rallied to take a 14-10 advantage by intermission. The Cowboys were ahead 21-10 going into the final period.
A Porter fumble at midfield on its third play from scrimmage allowed the Lobos to drive 48 yards in eight plays to go ahead 7-0.
“Our guys stuck with it and kept going at it,” Porter coach Tom Campos said. “Two years ago our team would have turned tail and ran (after falling behind) and given up the game. Now we understand that it’s part of the game (when you trail). Things are not always going to be perfect, and (if) you mess up on one or two plays, you still have 65 plays or so to go in a game (like this one).
“I think that’s the attitude our guys have now,” Campos added. “They’ve learned not to panic. We didn’t change anything today. We just kept doing what we were doing (running the ball), even on fourth down. Our defense did a fantastic job, and we’re fortunate that we didn’t give some costly points away with our (four) turnovers.”
Ivan Olivo’s 1-yard run and Jose Echavarria’s kick gave Lopez its 7-0 lead at the 6:06 mark of the opening period.
Gutierrez blasted in from 1 yard out to cap an eight-play, 60-yard drive with 8:15 showing during the second quarter as the Cowboys tied things at 7, thanks to Anthony Cuellar’s extra-point kick.
Porter went ahead for good, 14-7, at the 1:12 mark of the second quarter on Gutierrez’s 14-yard scoring scamper that ended a 10-play, 55-yard march. Cuellar again added the conversion.
On the final play of the first half, Lopez’s Jose Martinez nailed a 36-yard field goal to make it 14-10.
The Cowboys used a lost fumble by Lopez to drive 29 yards to the end zone in eight plays as Gutierrez added his third TD on a 2-yard run with 1:03 left in the third quarter. Cuellar’s kick made it 21-10.
Lopez continued to threaten and finally found the end zone again when David Garza caught a 6-yard scoring pass from Lobos quarterback Saul Mendoza with 3:40 remaining. A pass for the two-point conversion fell incomplete. leaving Porter leading 21-16.
The Cowboys recovered Lopez’s ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.
“I liked our attitude, and I thought we really competed hard,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said. “I was pleased with the way our defense played. We got four takeaways, Unfortunately, we gave up the ball once ourselves offensively, but we wound up plus three in the turnover margin.
“I think we need to do a better job technically of taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves,” Starkey added. “I would have liked to see us start the second half better than we did. I thought we had an excellent finish to the first half. We did a two-minute drive, and we put three points on the board (to trail 14-10). We didn’t come out and pick up where we left off to start the second half. We gave up a long drive in the third quarter, and we had to use a couple of timeouts early in the game that we shouldn’t have had to use.
“We just need to clean up the little things. I thought we improved in all three phases of the game. We got a good non-district game in today. It helped condition our athletes for district later this season. It helped us be in better shape for all the situations you encounter in a football contest.”
Saturday’s victory by Porter allowed the Cowboys to tie the overall “Battle of Southmost” series between the two schools at nine victories apiece.
Porter won 31-7 last year after the Lobos had captured the three previous encounters.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.