By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Hanna kicker Michael Payan stepped up when his team needed him against Harlingen South.
The sophomore hit a 22-yard field with two seconds left in the game to lift the Golden Eagles to a 19-16 win over the Hawks in The Brownsville Herald’s Game of the Week on Friday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“I was feeling nervous (before the kick),” Payan said. “I felt like we had this game, but I needed to step up.
“It was a big game and a big win.”
Payan had two field goals on the night, the first a 33-yarder in the third quarter with 4:57 to give Hanna a 16-9 lead and later the game-winner to give the Eagles (3-3 overall, 2-1 in District 32-6A) the victory.
“That kid has ice water in his veins,” Hanna coach Mark Guess said. “He didn’t even know the timeout (that Harlingen South called) was to ice him. He went out there and did his job like we asked him to. I love that kid. He’s always upbeat with a smile on his face, and when you’re that positive and that good, good things are going to happen.”
But it didn’t come before plenty of intense moments during the fourth quarter. Harlingen South (4-2, 1-2) started the final quarter with a touchdown pass from quarterback Brandon Villarreal to Derrick Delgado on a 15-yard strike to tie the game at 16 with 11:47 left.
The opposing defenses were focused to bend and not break in the tight, down-to-the-wire game. Hanna threw an interception on its next possession. The Hawks were forced to punt on their next drive and the Eagles got the ball with less than six minutes on the clock and the ball at their own 19-yard line. Hanna used plenty of runs and a few timely penalties to move the ball down the field for its final opportunity.
“I think (the defense) wanted to buckle down because (Harlingen South) can put a lot of points on the board,” Guess said. “We focused on that this week and if we knew if we did our job, things were going to go our way.”
Harlingen South hurt themselves at times with eight penalties fro 66 yards and it punted four times and turned the ball over on downs once.
“We had a lot of penalties. We could never get momentum and we kept killing drives,” Harlingen South coach Brian Ricci said. “We were sloppy early and it bit us in the foot again. In a close game, someone’s got to win and someone’s got to lose.”
The game was close throughout. Harlingen South got on the board first after a fumble by Hanna in the opening quarter. The Hawks took advantage of the short field and Matthew Zavala found the end zone after a 16-yard run for a 7-0 advantage with 4:10 left in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Hanna answered as Jaime Gonzalez found pay dirt after a 9-yard run with 6:41 left in the half, but the PAT was fumbled and Harlingen South’s Andrew Del Rio took it all the way back for two points and a 9-6 lead.
Under a minute before halftime, Gonzalez found the end zone again after a 1-yard dive to take a 13-9 edge.
Gonzalez, the top rusher in the district, led the Eagles offense with 169 yards on the ground and a pair of touchdowns.
Villarreal finished with 74 yards rushing on 17 carries and 22 yards through the air and a touchdown for the Hawks.
Ricci thought Harlingen South didn’t take advantage of scoring opportunities enough.
“I felt like we didn’t execute well enough to win,” he said. “My hats off to them, they did a great job. But we have to fix some things next week.”
Guess felt a bit of relief after getting the victory.
“It was a big win because it was a district game,” he said. “We’re so happy to be on the winning side of that one, it was a tight ball game. All the credit in the world to Harlingen South, they played hard, but our guys played hard too. Ultimately I guess we made the fewest mistakes and got the W.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @andrewmcrum.