ROY HESS | Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE— Coming off a decisive setback, the Harlingen South Hawks bounced back in a big way and remained on course for the playoffs.
The Hawks captured a 41-20 District 32-6A victory against Brownsville Rivera on Thursday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The win improved South to 4-4 on the season and 2-1 in district with regular-season games left against Harlingen High and Brownsville Hanna.
Rivera slipped to 0-8 and 0-3.
The Hawks received a standout game from their running back corps led by Emilio Quiroz with 108 yards. Corban Hendrick added 88 yards rushing, and fellow running backs Orlando Muniz and Gabriel Perez contributed 71 and 62 yards on the ground, respectively, to boost the Hawks’ cause.
“We got off to a fast start and that’s pretty much what we talked about doing all week (in practice),” South coach Brian Ricci said. “We had a fast start and it helped us put the game away.
“We have some good running backs and we rotated them in and out tonight,” Ricci added. “Our ‘O-Line’ did a good job of getting some movement and our running backs ran hard. We were able to move the chains. I’m excited about that.
“I’m just proud of our kids and the way they came out and played solid football.”
South was up 14-6 after one quarter and 34-6 at halftime. The Hawks went into the final period with a 41-6 advantage.
The Raiders tallied a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to account for the final score of 41-20.
South scoring runs of 43 yards by Perez and 37 yards by Quiroz on the Hawks’ first two possessions made it 14-0 after a pair of Jose Lerma extra points. A 1-yard quarterback keeper by Rivera’s Andres Perez with 1:00 to go in the opening period closed the gap to 14-6.
The Hawks pulled away by scoring 20 points during the second quarter. The South TDs in the period came on runs of 2 and 1 yards by Hendrick along with a 4-yard run by Cristian Cortez.
“Scoring two touchdowns was a great confidence booster (for me) going into the ‘Bird Bowl’ next week,” Hendrick said. “Me, Orlando and Emilio — honestly, any one of us can carry the ball and we’re going to get there (to the end zone).
“We feel good about this victory tonight,” Hendrick added. “Obviously, it puts us in a good position going into the ‘Bird Bowl.’ It gives us confidence.”
Muniz bulled his way into the end zone from 1 yard out at the 4:46 mark of the third quarter to increase the South lead to 41-6.
The Raiders scored a pair of TDs in the final period as Jesus Camarillo went 28 yards to the end zone on an end-around play to the left side, and then, Camarillo scored again on a 36-yard pass-and-run play after catching a short aerial from backup QB Ramsey Rocha.
South was coming off last week’s 49-14 loss at home against San Benito. Rivera fell 37-7 last week at Los Fresnos.
The Hawks can now start preparing for next Friday’s “Bird Bowl” against Harlingen High, while the Raiders play host to San Benito next Thursday at Sams and close out the season at Harlingen High on Nov. 9.
“Last week (against San Benito) we didn’t perform very well, and I’m glad we got to get out here tonight on a short week and try to play (well) again,” Ricci said. “Hopefully we’ve got a little momentum now going into a big game next Friday night.”
South defeated Rivera 31-6 in the final game of the season for both teams on Nov. 10 a season ago.