By MARK MOLINA, STAFF WRITER
In a game that had multiple turnovers by both teams, the Mission High Eagles found themselves down three to the Hanna Golden Eagles with the ball and just under 10 minutes to play.
Then, Hanna linebacker Jose Cruz popped the ball loose from Mission’s Sebastian Gonzalez and defensive lineman Jose Ramirez bottled it up, marking the defenses’ second forced turnover of the half.
Hanna’s offense added two insurance touchdowns and held Mission scoreless the rest of the way to pick up a 45-28 win Saturday night at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.
“Credit to Mission, they’re a tough ball club that can score at anytime,” Hanna head coach Mark Guess said. “They’re huge upfront and they play hard, but hats off to my guys, too. They really wanted this one bad. We just prepared.
“We had to beat them Monday through Friday to beat them today. We took care of business in practice and it showed on the field tonight.”
Hanna (2-1) committed two turnovers in the first half and fell behind 14-6, but visiting Mission (1-2) couldn’t capitalize on the errors and the two teams went into the half tied.
Mission scored just seven points and fumbled twice in the second half. Hanna on the other hand scored 24 and never turned the ball over.
“We talked about missed opportunities and lack consistency throughout the game on both sides of the ball,” Mission head coach Koy Detmer said. “We did a lot of really good things that were nice to see, but we have to be consistent … We cannot have the self-inflicted wounds. When we made mistakes, they capitalized on it because they were in the right position tonight.
Mission got things going on its second drive of the game, scoring quickly on a 59-yard touchdown pass from Damian Gomez to Sebastian Gonzalez to go up 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
Hanna answered on its ensuing possession, which began on its own 44 after a 41-yard kickoff return by Matthew Garcia.
Hanna went 56 yards in seven plays and, despite two recovered fumbles on the drive, would eventually score on a 17-yard run by Victor Campos to make it 7-6 after a blocked point after.
The two teams would trade fumbles as Mission’s Gonzalez put the ball on the turf, giving Hanna possession 18 yards from the end zone. But Hanna’s Campos would fumble two plays later, giving the ball right back.
Mission went 71 yards in nine plays, culminating in a 22-yard run by Andrew Maldonado to go up 14-6.
Hanna’s Justin Martinez fumbled on the first play of the ensuing drive on its on 39.
Mission drove all the way to the 8-yard line but was turned away on downs.
Aaron Frausto scored on 43-yard run to cap off a seven-play, 88-yard drive for Hanna and Garcia ran in the two-point conversion to make it 14-14. Both teams exchanged passing scores and went into the locker room having put the ball on the ground a combined seven times, with three resulting in turnovers.
“At halftime we talked about being lucky to be 0-0 at the half with 21 points each,” Guess said. “I told them that we were going to come out, get a stop and we’re going to score.”
Hanna forced two punts in the third before Campos found Frausto for an 84-yard catch-and-run to take a 28-21 lead; the first of the game for the hosts.
The Golden Eagles built a 10-point lead heading into the fourth, but Mission’s Esteban De Leon broke off a 71-yard touchdown run to make it 31-28 with 13 seconds gone in the fourth.
Mission’s Gonzalez fumbled on the next possession with a chance to take the lead, which all but ended the game.
The Eagles had seven other drives in the second half, but turned the ball over on two. They also were turned over on downs on another two, succumbing to the Golden Eagles’ pass rush multiple times.
“It was tough, but the thing is that we’ll get on the film and we’ll learn from some things that happened,” Detmer said. “We’ll get better and get ready to go next week.”
A 2-yard run by Garcia and a 68-yard scamper by Martinez shut the door for good on Mission.
Campos threw for 133 yards and three touchdowns on 4-for-9 passing. Garcia rushed for 86 yards on five carries for a score. Frausto added another 83 yards and a touchdown on the ground and caught another for 84 yards on his only reception of the night.
Mission’s Gomez passed for 300 yards on 13-of-27 passing and two touchdowns.