By ANDREW CRUM | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
After a pair of losses in District 32-5A the last two weeks, Lopez needed to regroup quickly against Edcouch-Elsa.
The Lobos did just that on both sides of the ball, overcoming a halftime deficit and blanking the Yellowjackets in the second half to earn a 23-14 victory in The Brownsville Herald’s Game of the Week on Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Trailing 14-7 at the break, Lopez senior quarterback Marco Solis — who finished with 101 yards of offense, including 70 yards through the air — threw a touchdown pass to senior receiver Johnny Ibarra to tie the game at 14 with 10:02 left in the third quarter.
Junior running back Christian Gamez scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 16-yard run with 11:20 to go in the fourth quarter.
The Lobos’ defense added a safety with less than four minutes to play in the final quarter to seal the win. The unit had an eventful night, it scored on a fumble return for a touchdown, had a pair of sacks, forced two turnovers and kept the Edcouch-Elsa offense out of the end zone over the final 24 minutes.
“It feels great … I can’t even speak right now,” Solis said. “We had more motivation and dedication (in the second half) and we were able to get this win.”
With the win, Lopez (7-2, 4-2 in District 32-5A) earns a return trip to the postseason while Edcouch-Elsa (4-5, 2-4) might have fallen out of the race with one game to go in the regular season.
“The glory goes to God and the credit goes to these coaches and these kids,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said. “I challenged these seniors to be remembered … they’re going back-to-back (in the postseason) like only one other senior class has (at Lopez). They’re going to be remembered because of our defensive coordinator Hugo Ramirez and our offensive coordinator Alberto Leal.
“I literally had nothing to do with this plan … and that’s why it worked.”
The Yellowjackets moved the ball well in the second half, but penalties and mistakes were costly.
“I think it was more of a mental thing … (Lopez) wanted it and it seemed like we thought they we’re going to give it to us,” Edcouch-Elsa coach Joe Marichalar said. “The game of football isn’t like that. You have to work, fight, scratch for every inch and at times we did and at times we didn’t.
“(Lopez) did the whole way and that was the difference.”
Lopez used its defense to take an early lead. Edcouch-Elsa fumbled on its first drive of the game and senior running back Jose Echavarria (who was playing in the secondary) picked it up and ran 89 yards for a touchdown to give the Lobos a 7-0 lead with 9:08 left in the opening quarter.
After the teams traded punts, the Yellowjackets tied it at 7 with a 1-yard touchdown run by senior running back Jorge Gomez with 2:44 left in the first.
Both squads then turned the ball over on consecutive interceptions before Edcouch-Elsa took a 14-7 lead with another 1-yard run by Gomez. That scored held up through halftime.
Gomez finished with 182 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns for Edcouch-Elsa.
“We got put in some critical situations and it didn’t work in our favor … in year’s past it did, but this year it didn’t,” Marichalar said. “We don’t question the Lord, this is the way it was and this is the way it is and that’s it. I’m proud of Lopez and the coaching staff … I wish those guys the best of luck in the postseason.
“We can be down and cry and point fingers or get fierce and determined and try to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Starkey was proud of the way his team bounced back after the last couple weeks and especially after a lopsided loss last season to Edcouch-Elsa.
“The selfless on this team … I couldn’t be more proud,” he said. “It’s good to win, but it’s great to win the right way when every kid’s all in … everybody did their job. To beat a Yellowjackets team when their backs were against the wall at our place after getting blown out at the Black Hole during their homecoming (last year), it couldn’t have happened at a better time.
“We got to the third season (postseason), now it’s our job to advance … I don’t care who we’re playing. Brownsville can play football now … let the Valley take notice.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @andrewmcrum.