LA JOYA — McAllen Memorial came out of the gates throwing haymakers and didn’t let La Joya Juarez-Lincoln get up, routing the Huskies 50-7 on Thursday night.
The Mustangs (7-2, 5-0) scored on their first two drives, and the Huskies (6-4, 3-3) never gained any momentum in their final regular season game of 2017.
Campbell Speights was as good as advertised, scoring three touchdowns, including two on runs of 50 yards or longer.
The sophomore running back said the start of the game was key after Memorial engaged in a close game in its last outing two weeks ago.
“Coming into this game, we knew we didn’t play right. We didn’t play the way we wanted to against La Joya (High),” Speights said. “We didn’t put them away early like we should have. Coach (Bill) Littleton was big on ‘Let’s put them away early.’”
Part of the early onslaught included big plays. Speights had a pair of 49-yard runs, while starting quarterback Sean Skaugen had two rushing scores, including a 53-yard scramble as time expired in the first half.
“When you have so many weapons on your team that can move the ball like Ethan (Bazan), like Sean, like A.J. (Castro), like Emiliano (Cruz), it just becomes dangerous,” Speights said. “Defense, they get tired, and it just opens up things.”
Memorial scored all seven of its touchdowns on the ground, with Bazan and Angel Almaguer rounding out the list of players who reached paydirt.
“Our kids were anxious to play. We’d been off for a week,” Littleton said. “We were ready to get back on the football field and play a football game. We came out fast, and the kids did a good job. Just proud of them in all phases of the game.”
The defense for Memorial was smothering.
The Mustangs didn’t allow 1,000-yard rusher Albert Martinez to make his usual impact, and they also sacked backup quarterback Roland Garcia on multiple occasions.
Nathan Sanchez was one of the standouts for Memorial. The senior was frequently first to the scene of attack, making solo and group tackles.
“The key for us was preparation,” Sanchez said. “We had two weeks to work for these guys. We drilled it and killed it in practice and came out and executed.”
The senior linebacker said the kryptonite against a shifty back like Martinez was to outhustle a speedster.
“Really it’s just being aggressive as a team,” Sanchez said. “We just got to go in with the mindset that we have to be bigger and faster than them and just take control of the game.”
“I thought Nathan, we moved him around a little bit tonight. He did a great job,” Littleton said. “I thought as a team, we all played well. That’s what our defense is all about, playing team ball. We took care of our gaps and did a good job.”
The Mustangs can feel improvement as the season progresses. They think they are a much better group than in their September losses to San Benito and Los Fresnos.
“We learned from our losses in non-district,” Sanchez said. “We played pretty tough teams, and the growth of these guys is amazing. You see little kids — I say little kids because they’re sophomores — you see them grow. I’m going to name drop Michael Morales. He’s grown a lot back there in the secondary for us.”
Juarez-Lincoln may have had the wind taken out of its sails on senior night, but the Huskies will have Week 11 to rest and watch the district standings take shape. The Huskies have clinched a playoff position, owning the tiebreaker against both Mission High and McAllen High.
McAllen Memorial will have a week to prepare for another city rival in McAllen Rowe. The Warriors are looking to stay perfect in district tonight against La Joya High to set up a winner-take-all, de facto district championship game.
“Our biggest key, like I said earlier, is being aggressive and coming out trying to take control of the game early and keep our foot on the pedal,” Sanchez said. “Because we know they’re coming for us, and we have to be ready.”