By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
Three Metro-area football teams will be going on the road tonight in search of a victory.
Hanna will face Mission High at Tom Landry Stadium, Pace travels to Mission to face Sharyland Pioneer and St. Joseph will be in Lyford to face the Bulldogs, with all games starting at 7:30 p.m.
Hanna (0-1) lost its opening game of the season last week 35-13 to Edinburg Economedes. The Eagles scored the first 13 points in the loss, and coachRene Medrano understands the importance of maintaining momentum.
“We got out to a good start last week,” he said. “But we’ve got to be able to finish stronger this week.”
Mission High (0-1) lost a close game to crosstown rival Mission Veterans Memorial last week, dropping the opener 14-7.
“Mission is coming off a big loss against their sister school, and we expect them to come out and play aggressive against us,” Medrano said.
The Hanna coach expects every area of his team to step up this week. He indicated everybody on the team has that same sense of urgency to put a mark in the win column.
“We’ve had a pretty good week at practice all around,” Medrano said. “We just need to keep making plays out on the field.”
Pace (0-1) also is looking for its first victory as it faces new school Sharyland Pioneer (1-0). Pace kept it’s most recent game close during the first half against Edinburg Vela before finally dropping the contest 56-21. Pace coach William Deen hopes his team can put together two strong halves.
“There’s a lot that goes on throughout a football game,” Deen said. “We’ve got to make sure we have the ability to work through that adversity.”
In order to compete with Sharyland Pioneer this weekend, Deen said his team needs to perform well in all areas of the game.
“I think we match up well with them in size and speed,” he said. “They do a good job at running the football, and we have to keep the momentum up.”
Last week, Pace quarterback Alex Cisneros injured his hamstring during the second half. Coach Deen confirmed that he is healthy and had a good week of practice.
One Brownsville team picked up a victory last Friday night. St. Joseph (1-0) clawed its way back in a hard-fought thriller, erasing a 10-point deficit to defeat Raymondville 38-34 in the final minutes.
SJA quarterback Kai Money threw five touchdowns including two toward the end of the game to secure the victory. Bloodhounds coach Christian Putegnat hopes his squad can play with the same high-octane style this week.
“We’ve got to try to continue to be a quick, up-tempo team,” Putegnat said. “Whenever you play Lyford, you know it’ll be a shootout. There’s going to be a lot of passing and a fast pace from each side.”
St. Josephtraveled to Lyford last year for the first game of the season, and the Bloodhounds won 64-40.
Adam Kujawski covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @adamkujo1.