By MARK MOLINA
Staff Writer
SAN ANTONIO — Trailing by six points early in the third quarter, the Hanna Golden Eagles turned the ball over for the second time in three possessions after quarterback Victor Campos was picked off by Eagle Pass defensive back David Kypuros.
When it seemed like the wheels were falling off, Hanna wide receiver Miguel Payan tracked down Kypuros seconds later, stripped the ball loose and regained possession for his team.
Two plays later, senior running back Cesar Mancias broke a 46-yard touchdown run to start a string of 21 unanswered points and lift Hanna to a 28-13 area round win over Eagle Pass on Friday at the University of Incarnate Word’s Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium.
It was another slow start for Hanna on both sides of the ball, but coach Mark Guess credited his defense with holding Eagle Pass to three second-half points and keeping his team in the game until the spark.
“We hard four three-and-outs to start the ballgame, and it wasn’t the way we wanted to start offensively,” the Hanna coach said. Our defense kept holding and holding and holding. We just kept doing the things we’ve been doing all year long. At some point these guys tell themselves, ‘Hey, this might be my last ball game.’ In the second half of every ballgame, they come out and score.
“We just have to keep playing and do what we can because it gets tougher each week at this point.”
Hanna improves to 10-1 moves on to play the winner of the Cibolo Steele-Northside Brandeis area-round game in the Class 6A regional round Dec. 1 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Eagle Pass is sent packing after a 10-3 season.
Mancias had a big second half with 173 yards and two touchdowns, with several big runs straight up the middle. Overall, Mancias had three scores, including a 20-yard run during the first half.
“Our linemen blocked and the holes were there,” the Hanna senior said. “My other running back, Aaron Frausto, made the holes even bigger … It was just execution. Going into the half we knew this could be our last game and we really didn’t want that to happen, so we had to come out and execute.”
After Macias’ 46-yard run, Hanna scored on the next two drives as well, on a 14-yard fade to the left corner of the end zone and then on a 4-yard run from Mancias.
Eagle Pass had four drives during the second half and turned the ball over twice as Hanna defensive backs Andres Sustaeta and Bryan Duran intercepted quarterback Ricardo Luna to secure the win.
It was a far cry from the first half, when Eagle Pass moved the ball consistently on short fields but only managed 10 points.
“We started talking at the half and needed to make adjustments,” Duran said. “We matched up on their receivers, and our defensive line helped us out so much.”
Luna was sacked three times during the second half and freshman running back Jose Hernandez was held to 25 second-half yards after a productive first half that included a touchdown run.