By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Rivera fell behind early and never recovered.
The Raiders remained winless on the season after falling behind by a pair of scores during the first quarter of a 42-8 loss to Harlingen South in a District 32-6A game Thursday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“I think we played one of our better games, and we had some things go right early for us,” Harlingen South coach Lanny Wilson said. “Coach Chavez does a great job, and his kids play hard and they act right. We just had some matchups that we felt good about.”
Rivera scored its lone touchdown during the fourth quarter as Angel Tolentino hit Chris Zuniga on a 38-yard pass play, and the Raiders added a two-point conversion on a run by Victor Melchor, but that was all it got against a stout Hawks defense.
Harlingen South intercepted three passes — two by Alec Garza — and held the Raiders to 167 yards of offense.
“We’ve done a lot of work with techniques, and we’ve moved some people around,” Wilson said. “We’ve really concentrated this week on playing our technique, playing our personnel, getting our reads and (getting) to the football, and I was really proud of our defense.”
The Hawks got started quickly, taking two plays to get on the board during the first quarter. Adrian Torres took a handoff 55 yards and scored for a 7-0 lead.
Later in the quarter, quarterback Brandon Villarreal took it himself on a 9-yard touchdown run to give Harlingen South a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Rivera defense held Harlingen South in check at times and recorded three sacks on the night, but it wasn’t enough to help the Raiders’ offense.
During the second quarter, the Hawks blocked a Rivera punt and Jonathan Cantu recovered it in the end zone for a 21-0 lead. One minute later after an interception, Harlingen South added another score when Villarreal hit Alec Garza on a 33-yard pass for a 28-0 lead at the break.
“We got up to a big lead, a three-touchdown lead, and after that it changes the way you call the game,” Wilson said.
During the third quarter, Harlingen South added to its lead when Steven Rodriguez scored on a 7-yard run for a 35-0 lead. Cantu added another score for the Hawks when he broke away for a 67-yard run and extended the lead to 42-0.
“They beat us last year, so I’m not taking anything away from them, that’s the way football goes,” Wilson said. “It was a good football game, and it’s always good to beat somebody as good as (Chavez) is at coaching.”
Rivera finally got on the board with a couple minutes remaining in the fourth quarter as Tolentino hit Zuniga on a touchdown pass. The Raiders added the 2-point conversion on a Melchor run.
Tolentino completed eight of his 22 passes for 100 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Melchor gained 69 yards on 15 carries for the Raiders.
Wilson was happy the Hawks earned their second district win on the season.
“I’m proud for the win,” he said. “A lot of times, high school kids, what they say doesn’t matter but what they believe does. When they win two games they believe they can win three, and if we can win three we may be able to win a few more, so that’s our hope.”
Rivera coach Tom Chavez was unavailable for comment following the game.
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.