MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The rain made the ball hard to hold onto for both McAllen and Harlingen in a grind-it-out game that saw turnovers and bad snaps in the second half.
However, despite turning the ball over three times in the second half, the McAllen Bulldogs scored on a late 1-yard run by senior running back Ricky Rodriguez that capped off an 11-play, 70-yard game-winning drive, lifting the Dogs over the Harlingen Cardinals 21-14 Friday night at Boggus Stadium.
“Coach always tells us to play 48 minutes of football and that’s just what we did. We got down there and did what coach (Kevin) Brewer expects us to do,” Rodriguez said. “[Turnovers] didn’t faze us because we knew we had the talent to go down and put points on the board.”
The Cardinals defense looked to have the Bulldogs dead to rights on a 4th-and-7 play, but McAllen quarterback Fred Hover found wide receiver Randy Ivie for a 36-yard conversion, setting up the winning score four plays and a Harlingen personal foul later.
For Harlingen, the woes continued as sophomore quarterback Jesse Castro left the game late in the first half with knee injury.
Prior to his exit, he rushed for 53 yards on eight carries that included a six-yard score late in the first quarter.
However, the Cards were still able to move the ball late in the game to take a brief 14-13 lead with 3:55 to go on a 35-yard touchdown run by Rene Medina.
It was an effort Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez will take from his team, but with Weslaco on the schedule next week, he knows his team must get healthy.
“It was good football. They executed and we didn’t,” Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez said. “It’s difficult when your quarterback goes down again and you have to go into a plan C. The kids showed resiliency and got after it. It shows greatness in some of these, but we’re going to keep playing no matter what. It’s a learning curb for us right now but we have to get healthy for sure.”
On the night, the Cardinals’ defense and special teams executed as they forced five turnovers that included three second-half fumbles.
Leading the way was Harlingen safety Felix Reyna who had a blocked punt recovery and an interception, both coming in the first half.
Unfortunately for the Cards, McAllen’s Rodriguez, who finished with two touchdowns and Hover (one touchdown) made the last drive count.
A game down to the wire was what Brewer expected for his Bulldogs.
“We knew that if we executed, we could get points. We wound up in a fourth and long, but the rain let up and we knew we had to throw the ball down the field; it was a heck of a throw and catch by the quarterback and wide receiver.” Brewer said. “I knew that it would come down to whoever could run the ball best without turning it over and we both turned it over, but we got the running game going at the right time. The last team with the ball was going to win.”