FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — For the Weslaco East Wildcats and the Harlingen South Hawks, the situation was the same — win.
With two games left in a competetive District 32-6A, both teams needed a victory to stay in the hunt for the final playoff spot, and the Wildcats did just that as they rushed for over 300 yards against the Hawks’ defense for a 28-7 victory at Boggus Stadium Friday night.
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in district play. Meanwhile, the loss dropped the Hawks to 4-5 overall and 1-5 in district. The Hawks’ shot at their first postseason berth since 2013 is now over.
“I knew coming into this year that the team was going to be young, but today we came out and played Weslaco East football, which is (run) straight ahead,” said Weslaco East head coach Michael Burget.
“We finally put it together today and we put ourselves in great position for next week against a heck of a ballclub in Brownsville Hanna. We’re going to enjoy this for a little bit, but we’re going to get busy tomorrow and see what we can do.
“Coach Brian Ricci has done a heck of a job. He’s come in late and put a team together, and I’m very proud of Harlingen South because they’re well-coached and you can see that every time they play, and he’s going to do something at Harlingen South.”
The Wildcats found success early behind the rushing attack of Roy Pedraza and JC Vargas.
However, while the Wildcats’ rushing attack had the Hawks’ defense going backward, it was East’s aerial attack that produced the first touchdown of the game. Quarterback Richard Lefevre found Alvaro Medrano for a 23-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 8:55 remaining in the first quarter.
With 2:15 left before the half, the Wildcats found the end zone once again as Vargas took a handoff and went the distance for a 39-yard touchdown run. Vargas finished the night with 79 yards and one TD on nine carries and caught the ball twice for 13 yards.
The Wildcats scored two more touchdowns in the third and fourth quarter behind a stellar showing from Pedraza as he rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries.
“Pedraza is probably the only back in our district that has run for over 100 yards against everybody in the district,” said Burget. “He didn’t start the first three games and got very little carries, but he is sitting right now on probably 1,050 yards on the year.
“JC Vargas is also one of the best athletes that I’ve ever coached because he can play wherever I need him to.”
Harlingen South broke through for their lone touchdown of the night with 22 seconds remaining in the third quarter. After a 79-yard drive, Gilbert Montemayor punched it in on a fourth-and-1 situation to cut Weslaco’s lead to 21-7.
However, it was too little to late as the Wildcats went back to the running game and couldn’t be stopped.
The Hawks finished the night with 140 total yards (82 rushing, 58 passing).
The Hawks conclude the season next week at Brownsville Rivera. Meanwhile, Weslaco East hosts Brownsville Hanna, which is also 3-3 in district action.