By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The Rivera Raiders’ defense put up another strong performance, holding the Los Fresnos Falcons to just two scores in a 25-13 win Saturday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Los Fresnos (5-3, 3-2 in District 32-6A) was deep in Rivera (3-5, 3-2) territory on three separate occasions, and each time the ball was turned over on downs, including once on a blocked field goal.
“The defense plays hard every week,” Raiders coach Tom Chavez said. “But our offense and the whole team played hard tonight. Never count the Raiders out.
“It feels good (to be in the playoff hunt), there’s still two games left, and we’ll take it one game at a time and see what happens. We can’t control what everybody else does. We can only control what we do.”
The Rivera defense held its own throughout the game, and the offense stepped up during the fourth quarter. Rivera led 15-13 when quarterback Danny Elizondo hit Oggy Martinez on a 53-yard touchdown pass. The Raiders followed that with a 40-yard field goal by Chelin Martinez to extend the lead to 25-13.
Elizondo was a vital weapon at crucial points throughout the game. Though the Raiders didn’t distance themselves until late, his first score of the night came on a 9-yard run near the end of the first quarter.
Elizondo struck again when he floated a pass to Edward Rubio that the receiver grabbed with one hand to put Rivera ahead by two touchdowns. A botched snap on the extra point attempt allowed Martinez to corral the ball and find a wide open Rubio for an unexpected two-point conversion.
Los Fresnos answered near the end of the first half when Pierce Ruiz found Pete Perez for a 40-yard strike. Ruiz also opened the second half with a 1-yard sneak, but the Raiders took over after that.
“We had a tough night tonight, we didn’t play well,” Falcons coach Clint Finley said. “Give credit to the guys on Rivera, they played their tails off. We’ve got to go to work and get better for next week.”
The playoffs are fast approaching, and two teams with identical district records will face each other when Los Fresnos plays host to Brownsville Veterans Memorial at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31. Rivera and the Hanna Golden Eagles will duke it out at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.