MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — After falling to 0-3 following a district-opening loss to Brownsville Veterans last week, Harlingen South head coach Lanny Wilson knew there was a lot of district games ahead.
His team knew that, too and proceeded to take a step in the right direction, as they took down the Brownsville Lopez Lobos 33-14 Friday night at Boggus Stadium.
South running back Steven Rodriguez led the way with 113 yards and a pair of first-half touchdown runs, while the defense held the Lobos (0-3, 0-2) to just seven offensive points.
While the win was the first of the year for Hawks (1-3, 1-1), Wilson feels like his team didn’t play as well as they could’ve against a much-improved Lobos team.
“Lopez has turned the ball over a whole bunch, but coach Starkey corrects stuff each week. They had a good game plan on us and took care of the football; I’ll give them credit,” Wilson said. “I thought our offense scored enough points to win, but I’ve seen them play better. I wanted to see us play better on defense and I think we did that.”
The Lobos played better than in recent weeks by scoring a defensive touchdown and turning the ball over just once, but their offense still couldn’t finish drives and capitalize on opportunities.
“We cleaned up the turnovers, but I tip my hat to Harlingen South and Lanny Wilson; I have a lot of respect for his ability to call a defense,” Lobos coach Jason Starkey said.
The Lobos were held to just 130 yards of total offense, with 112 coming in the first half and most of that on a 78-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Saul Mendoza to Jose Echavarria.
“(South) took us out of what we wanted to do offensively. We couldn’t handle the pressure defensively,” Starkey added. “We also gave up some big plays on defense. We wanted to clean up the turnovers, avoid big plays and do better on special teams.
“We did better, but we’re not where we need to be to compete with teams like this.”
While the South offense slowed in the second half — they scored 10 offensive points — the first half was filled with deep strikes.
Rodriguez’s touchdowns came on runs of 21 and 36 yards, while quarterback Brandon Villarreal (7 of 12, 73 yards, INT, TD, FUM) found Alec Garza for a 33-yard touchdown pass.
Villarreal also found the end zone later on a one-yard QB sneak.
WORK HORSES: Rodriguez wasn’t the only South runner lighting it up Friday.
Adrian Torres carried the ball 20 times for South and gained 139 yards. He even had an interception on defense to end the night.
TAKING CHANCES: South was 2 for 4 on fourth downs Friday night, but with their defense playing solid, Wilson was confident and fortunate to take those shots.
“If you feel your defense can stop somebody, you’re going to take chances,” Wilson said. “We also need to build the mentality that if we need a yard, we’re going to get a yard no matter what. In this district, we’re going to have to get those yards.”