NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Scoring wasn’t the issue when PSJA North and Mission High clashed Friday night at Tom Landry Hall of Fame Stadium.
The game was decided by a few defensive plays and the Raiders had more stops as they controlled the momentum most of the evening to overcome the Eagles, 41-31.
Mission (5-2, 2-2) scored the game’s first touchdown to take a one-score lead, but the Raiders (4-3, 3-1) offense answered loudly.
Coming into the 30-6A game, Eagles freshman quarterback Jeremy Duran was in the spotlight. He was making his first start in place of injured junior Damian Gomez.
Another ninth-grader took center stage early, North running back Isaac Gonzalez. He scored the Raiders first two touchdowns to first show off his strength, then his speed.
“It’s good getting experience as a freshman, playing on the varsity squad and being able to get all those yards (and) show people that if you’re a freshman you can do it,” Gonzalez said. “Just because they’re juniors or seniors don’t let them put you down. Keep working hard and you’ll be the person that you are.”
Gonzalez caught a screen pass from quarterback Iziaah Rangel and broke multiple tackles to reach the end zone. On the next drive, he made a strong cut that gave him an open field for a 46-yard sprint for his second touchdown.
Queue the first big defensive play for PSJA North. Defensive back Seven Sanchez dove in front of a Mission receiver to intercept Duran.
“It was big, make them squat early,” Sanchez said. “That came out big in the end, he made mistakes and it paid off. Once you get the momentum rolling, it’s pretty much over.”
The score was 14-7 at that juncture of the match but it helped lead the way to a 21-10 halftime advantage for the visitors.
Sanchez wasn’t done after that play. In the third quarter, the relatively small defensive back played bigger than his size to strip Eagles tight end Reymundo Garcia, who had caught a pass.
Sanchez made noise in the secondary with pass breakups and in the backfield with a tackle for a loss. Raiders’ defensive lineman Aaron Alvarez had three sacks on Duran in the second half.
“The turnover battle, it changes things, and causes momentum shifts,” Raiders coach Marcus Kaufmann said. “We got that interception and started driving the ball down the field. And that fumble he got the ball from the big tight end, just ripped the ball out of his hands like three times his size. That gets the tide going a little bit.”
PSJA North won the turnover battle 4-1 with two interceptions and two recovered fumbles.
“Getting turnovers…we’ve experienced it from the other side early in the season where we turned it over,” Kaufmann said. “It doesn’t matter how great you are or how many yards you put up – you lose games that way. Now we’re on the other end of it for the last two weeks. Hopefully, it continues that way.”
Arturo Beltran was exceptional again for PSJA North. The senior running back/receiver hybrid found pay dirt three times, a week after scoring four times against McAllen Rowe.
All of his points came after he was hurt on a tackle in the first half. Beltran didn’t stay out of the game long and made sure to get his name on the score sheet.
His first score went for 69 yards on a catch and run. His speed didn’t give any defender an angle to bring him down. His breakaway speed allowed him to score late in the fourth on a pitch play that turned into a 40-yard score when his team was trying to eat some clock.
“I knew that my teammates needed me, I’m going to do whatever it takes to put myself in the game,” Beltran said. “It’s my senior year and I just want to let everyone know that I’m here to play no matter what. When I got banged up it was pretty hard for me to make plays, but my teammates and my coaches motivated me to play and keep fighting and that’s what I did.”
Duran hit Sebastian Gonzalez for two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and the Eagles recovered a pair of onside kicks late, but Beltran’s third score gave too much cushion to allow a comeback.