BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — PSJA High senior quarterback Trey Guajardo is as good now as he’s ever been on a football field. This is a terrifying thought, considering Guajardo has been among the top players at his position since the start of his sophomore year.
The Bears offense treated its district opener against the previously undefeated La Joya High Coyotes as another opportunity to be great. PSJA lived up to the billing thanks to Guajardo’s 498 passing yards, seven touchdown passes and no turnovers in PSJA High’s 46-25 pounding of the Coyotes on Thursday night.
“The big question going into this year was if we were going to be as strong as we were last year, receiving-wise and myself,” Guajardo said. “I think we’re as good and even better, in my opinion. We have so much speed on the outside. The guys trust me, and I trust them. They make my job a lot easier.”
“I’m so proud of the young man,” PSJA High coach Lupe Rodriguez said of Guajardo. “In two years, he’s done so much and grown so much in a short period of time. It’s amazing what he’s accomplished. Last year, he was learning our offense. This year, I told him I wanted to evolve a little bit more. Now, we’re reading the defense more. He’s been very smart with the football. He has only one pick in four games. He’s amazing.”
Guajardo’s seven touchdown passes on Thursday tied the Valley record for most TD throws in a single game, held by Guajardo’s coach Lupe Rodriguez, among others. The game marked the second time Guajardo went for seven TDs in a game this season. The senior mercilessly torched Corpus Christi King in the Bears’ first win of the year.
Junior Mikey Flores led a big day for Bears wide receivers. Flores made 10 catches for 217 yards and three touchdowns, while junior Marco Guajardo turned in seven catches for 187 yards and three touchdowns of his own.
“We worked on the little things at practice this week, and those little things led to those touchdowns,” Flores said. “We worked on middle passes, because we thought they were going to play back because of our speed. Those helped us get big yards.”
After posting a shutout against Roma and holding the typically potent offense of Sharyland High to seven points, the La Joya High (3-1, 0-1) defense lacked the fundamentals on Thursday. As Flores noted, missed tackles and blown coverages turned medium plays into long plays. The Bears scored on their first possession of the game, and the Coyotes never recovered.
“We knew we had to keep the ball away from them, because they’re a ground-and-pound team,” Rodriguez said. “Our scheme was to make do with the opportunities we have offensively, because we never knew how long we were going to have the football. We did a lot of short passes and established long drives. Because of that, deep routes were able to open on some of those, as well.”
PSJA High (2-2, 1-0) dropped two of its first three non-district games, first to one of Region IV’s top Class 5A Division I teams at Corpus Christi Flour Bluff and then on the road at San Benito, which checked in at No. 5 in RGVSports.com’s latest top 10 poll.
“I’ve told our team that we’ve played the toughest non-district schedule because those games were going to prepare us for district,” Rodriguez said. “A lot of those teams were better than our district teams, and it showed tonight. I told them things were going to be a little bit easier once we faced opponents of this caliber. Our team came out and played tonight.”
“We’re not satisfied, because our goal is to win a district championship,” Guajardo said. “The records will come, but I’d rather get these wins right now than get a record.”