McALLEN — McAllen Memorial kept running its way back into Friday night’s game against Victoria West.
Victoria West just ran a lot more, en route to a 61-35 victory over the home-standing Mustangs in the bi-district round of the Class 5A DI playoffs at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Senior Chase Patek rushed for close to 200 yards, including a 93-yard scamper to end the third quarter, and returned a kickoff 91 yards to pace an offense that exploded after coming into the contest having been on the losing end of two straight lopsided losses to Corpus Christi Veterans (57-26) and Corpus Christi Flour Bluff (59-32). Still, the team came into Friday night’s matchup with a 6-3 overall record (6-2 in District 15-5A DI), averaging 45.9 points per game.
Trailing for most of the game, except at 14-14, Mustangs running back Michael Lewis scored on a hard running 9-yard inside handoff and Memorial was within a touchdown at 34-27.
Lewis had a huge night for the Mustangs, also rushing for nearly 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns. On one occasion, he took an inside handoff, appeared through the line, spun 360 degrees and kept running for a 51-yard gain in the first quarter that led to him scoring Memorial’s first touchdown of the night and close to withing 14-7.
Memorial’s running attack — with Lewis, Ethan Garcia and Andrew Salinas was effective through most of the night after a slow start that saw the Mustangs fall behind 14-0. Salinas also surpassed the century mark on the ground and scored a pair of touchdowns, his first from 7 yards out during the second quarter to tie the game at 14.
Then, after Patek broke free for his 93-yarder to seemingly seal the victory for the Warriors, Salinas found the end zone on a 32-yard scamper up the middle to bring Memorial to within 54-27.
Memorial trailed 41-27 with the ball and the Mustangs were driving, highlighted by a Salinas 31-yard run. Memorial had the ball first-an-10 from the 16 before a holding call pushed them back. Then on fourth-and-1 from the 7, the Victoria defense held and the offense came out.
That’s when Patek broke loose, getting through the first line of defense and splitting the middle en route to his huge run and the 47-27 lead.
On Memorial’s next possession, Victoria West forced a fumble that was recovered by the Warriors’ Dion Green near the 30. Before his knee hit the ground on an attempted tackle, he pitched the ball back to teammate John Martinez, who took it the rest of the way, and suddenly Victoria West’s lead was up to 54-27 with 11:52 remaining.
This was the 14th time — and 10th in a row — the Mustangs have qualified for the postseason in the past 18 years under head coach Bill Littleton, who was inducted into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame earlier this year.