McALLEN — The seventh-ranked McAllen Memorial Mustangs operated like a well-oiled machine and outmuscled the 10th-ranked Mission High Eagles 48-0 in the RGVSports.com Game of the Week on Friday at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Memorial (4-1, 2-0) opened the game with four first half touchdowns on five drives.
Mission’s five first half possessions, meanwhile, ended with three turnovers on downs, one punt and one as time expired, putting the Eagles (2-3, 0-2) in a 28-point hole at the break.
“It was a total team effort. Offense, defense, they all played together and were hungry all week,” Memorial head coach Moses Patterson said. “We have our goal every year to be the best team in the history of McAllen Memorial and we feel like they’ve worked hard this offseason and they have a chance to hopefully do that. It’s all day by day, step by step. We need to get better and better.”
Mission’s offense moved the ball into Memorial territory multiple times but the Mustangs’ defense never broke. Memorial shut down the run for four quarters and made Mission rely on its passing game. When the Eagles went to the air, the Mustangs’ front seven pinned their ears back and turned up the pressure to throw off timing, resulting in sacks and incompletions.
“We made sure we shut out the running back first and we made sure we were composed and kept our energy up,” Memorial senior defensive lineman Jason Escobar said. “We worked hard for this and we were dominant in this game.”
While the Memorial defense pitched a shutout, the Mustangs’ offense got going on the ground and it opened up the passing game for a balanced attack.
Running backs JP Garza and Braxton Speights scored two rushing touchdowns each and Jorge Muñoz added another on the ground late in the fourth. Quarterback Kane Coy, who kicked off the scoring with a 32-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, connected with receiver Michael Alaniz for a 71-yard score on a catch-and-run in the second quarter.
Garza, who is in his second game back from injury, finished with 97 yards and two scores on 13 carries.
“From start to finish, we were just driving down the field, ground and pound, we did what we do best. All of our backs got in the end zone and it was just a great game overall, offensively and defensively,” the senior Garza said. “Being back on this field, I’m just so energetic and on an all-time high right now.”
Speights finished north of 100 rushing yards and two scores. Coy completed 3-of-5 passes for 115 yards, ran for 32 yards and scored two touchdowns. Alaniz led Memorial with two grabs for 102 yards and a touchdown.
Mission quarterback Diego Salinas led the Eagles with 230 yards passing. Receiver Jared Castro had seven catches for 58 yards and Yandel Barrera had two catches for 61 yards.
Both McAllen Memorial and Mission now enter their District 16-5A DI bye week in Week 6.
The Mustangs return to play Oct. 11 against crosstown rival McAllen High at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium in McAllen.
The Eagles are back in action Oct. 11 against La Joya Palmview at Tom Landry Stadium in Mission.