By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Pace Vikings’ offense was sluggish and failed to finish its drives until late in the game. The Donna High Redskins did so throughout and built a lead they did not relinquish.
The Redskins defeated the Vikings 26-7 in District 32-5A action Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“The offense has been off for about two weeks. We have to find what the fix is,” Pace coach William Deen said. “I don’t know if we trying to do too much, not enough, or if the kids don’t understand (something). That’s on us as a coaching staff to figure out.”
Donna High had its troubles against the Pace defense, losing a fumble early in the first quarter that was recovered by the Vikings’ Albert Medina. But the Pace offense did not move the ball and gave it right back.
The Redskins took advantage of good field position with two field goals from kicker Luis Pina. Pina hit a 25-yarder during the first quarter and added a 34-yard boot in the second quarter to give the Redskins a 6-0 lead.
Later in the second, Pace quarterback Alex Cisneros was intercepted by Donna High’s Efrain Tijerina, and the Redskins’ offense took over near midfield.
A mix of passes and runs for the Redskins moved the chains to the Pace 22-yard line. A few plays later, Donna High quarterback Edward Dougherty hit Paul Guerra on a 22-yard screen pass, and he weaved his way through defenders and into the end zone for a touchdown to give the Redskins a 12-0 lead.
Donna High adjusted to play off the defensive schemes.
“After we looked at film last week, we had to change certain things that we do,” Donna High coach Ramiro Leal said. “We were trying to move the ball and give whatever the defense was giving us. Last week we tried to force things that didn’t need to be forced.”
During the second half, Dougherty gave the Redskins a 19-0 lead midway through the third quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run.
The Vikings finally got on the board early in the fourth quarter when Cisneros found Arturo Vilano for a 9-yard touchdown.
Pace finished with 187 yards of offense, including 131 yards passing and one touchdown.
Donna High answered a few minutes later as Dougherty took it in for the score from 4 yards out to seal the win.
The Redskins adjusted to the Vikings’ defense and came up with big plays.
“We decided if they give us this, we’ll go to this, or if they give us that, we’ll do that,” Leal said. “We had some great help from (the coaches) upstairs and were able to adjust on the fly.”
The Redskins amassed 332 yards of offense, of which the rushing attack totaled 250 yards and two scores.
Deen said the Vikings’ offense didn’t execute when it needed to, but he knows they have the personnel to get the job done.
“Certain things have to happen,” he said. “We have to convert on third and short. We didn’t convert a lot of third downs tonight. We have a big strong offensive line, so we have to let them play. We have a stable of running backs that we don’t let get tired. We split their carries to keep them fresh. It’s something we have to find out and fix it this week.
“We can compete with these teams, we just have to put ourselves in a position to win.”
Leal said his team got the message last week after a loss to PSJA Southwest.
“It was a wakeup call,” he said. “I think honestly the kids played harder (tonight), the three-week layoff really hurt us. We just need to get better every week.”
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.