DAVE FAVILA | Staff Writer
It was a big week for Mercedes quarterback Rene Presas and Los Frenos middle blocker Sam Ibarra.
On Friday night, Presas scored three touchdowns to lead the Tigers to a 39-12 win over McAllen Rowe. And last Tuesday, Ibarra had 14 kills and nine blocks to help the Lady Falcons rally past Mission Veterans in a thrilling four-game match.
For their stellar efforts, Presas and Ibarra were named the Valley Morning Star’s Athletes of the Week.
Ibarra’s performance helped her team improve to an impressive 18-9 record as the Lady Falcons beat the Lady Patriots 20-25, 25-20, 25-18, 26-14. It was Mission Vets’ first regular-season loss to a Valley team since 2012.
“I think just the energy of everyone helped,” Ibarra said after the match. “Everyone was super motivated and super excited. Eveyone wanted to do real good and win.”
Ibarra and the rest of the Lady Falcons look to keep things rolling this week as they take on Hidalgo and PSJA North in a tri-match at Hidalgo today beginning at 5:30 p.m. Then, on Saturday, they host Brownsville Lopez in their District 32-6A opener at noon.
As for Presas, his solid performance helped the Tigers bounce back from an ugly 28-0 loss to Calallen in Week 1.
Presas passed for 236 yards on 19 of 28 passing for one touchdown, while rushing for 51 yards on eight carries and two more scores against a McAllen Rowe team that beat up on Edcouch-Elsa the week before.
After Friday’s contest, Presas deflected all the praise to his team’s defense.
“The defense stepped up 110 percent,” Presas said after the game. “They went all-out for us. They gave us the ball every time and we tried to score as many times as we could with it.”
Presas will look to help his team improve to 2-1 this week when the Tigers travel to La Feria to take on the Lions at 7:30 p.m. Friday evening.