The McAllen Memorial Mustangs usually don’t enter games as underdogs. And after beating No. 1 Weslaco East 28-14 on the road, they won’t be expected to lose again any time soon.
Kelechi Nwachuku said his team didn’t care much about the predictions.
“It’s big, because this is probably one of the only games we were going to come in as underdogs,” Nwachuku said. “We just had to prove it to ourselves. We know we weren’t underdogs. It’s OK. We know that we got ourselves.”
Nwachuku made his presence felt early and often from his position in the secondary, forcing three fumbles. The Mustangs forced six total turnovers — four fumbles and two interceptions.
“We knew our turnovers were going to win the game,” Nwachuku said. “It’s hard to stop a team that runs the ball as well as Weslaco East. So if you get turnovers, it stops their momentum. They get down on themselves. It just gives us a one-up.”
The turnovers came at crucial times, in the midst of various promising Wildcats drives. East fumbled twice in the red zone. One was striped from Roy Pedraza, and another was taken from J.C. Vargas.
“They moved the ball. We played a great football team tonight,” Memorial coach Bill Littleton said. “It’s a game of two good football teams playing old-fashioned smashmouth football. We were fortunate enough to get a few turnovers and find a way to win the ballgame.”
Pedraza carried in both of East’s touchdowns, but the Wildcats were unable to score again after their late second-quarter points.
Both teams moved the ball well, as each had more than 300 yards of total offense. Campbell Speights rushed for more than 100 yards, and Memorial leaned heavily on the run again. But, to the surprise of most, the biggest plays were passes.
QB Sean Skaugen started under center, replacing the injured Angel Almaguer.
Memorial lulled the Weslaco East defense to sleep, then went to the air when the Wildcats stacked the box.
Wide receiver Ethan Bazan was the source of a majority of the highlights Friday night. He caught three touchdown passes: two of 42 yards and one of 43.
He made strong individual efforts to stay on his feet after catches, fighting to get in the end zone after initial contact.
“We go over plays like that a lot in practice, just in case, and it came out to come through tonight, because they were playing us off on the coverage,” Bazan said. “The effort to get in the end zone comes from my coaches coaching me, making me a hard runner in the weight room.”
Skaugen is listed as an athlete on Memorial’s roster, and he showed it in a big way. With Bazan, the chemistry dates back to junior high.
“Sean’s done it before,” Bazan said. “He’s been my quarterback since seventh grade, and he stepped up before, so I knew he could come through tonight.”
“We play against teams and we all know, everybody knows, ‘McAllen Memorial runs the football.’ So they come and they load the box,” Skaugen said. “We have a great runner like Campbell Speights, and they’re scared. But then we have a great wide receiver in Ethan Bazan and a great receiver in Josh Sanchez, and you can’t let them go in one-on-one, because they will burn you.”
Almost lost in the action was a milestone for longtime Memorial coach Littleton. The 15th-year Mustangs coach reached his 100th win at the school.
“It’s a great thing,” Skaugen said. “We have nothing but love for big Bill Littleton. He comes out, and he jokes with us, but he’s also very hard on us. But at the end of the day, I know that he really loves us as kids. It’s just great we can be part of something special in his career.”
“It means everything,” Nwachuku said. “He is Memorial football. And to do it against a top team, it doesn’t get better than that.”