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McALLEN MEMORIAL 42, SAN BENITO 28: At San Benito, as the inclement weather that affected most of the Valley on Friday reached Bobby Morrow Stadium and forced a weather delay, McAllen Memorial head coach Bill Littleton was intent on waiting things out.
Mind you, his Mustangs had a 28-6 halftime lead on San Benito in their non-district clash so many felt the game would eventually be called.
But then a second 30-minute delay came. Eventually a third. All the while, Littleton never wavered as he wanted to see the game through. The Mustangs did just that as they closed out a victory amid plenty of drizzle.
“They needed the work, they needed the conditioning and everything and our kids did a good job,” Littleton said afterward of his team. “We overcame some adversity. It’s always hard when you have to go and sit down for an hour. It’s hard to overcome and stay sharp, but we found a way to overcome.”
The running game for Memorial (2-1) was pretty sharp indeed. Trevor Speights led a punishing ground game with 226 yards and two touchdowns, his third 200-plus outing of the young season. But it wasn’t just the great Speights. Aaron Villarreal had 69 tough yards of his own while quarterback Jonathan Sanchez was solid as well with 73 yards on the ground.
“We have more than just Trevor and our kids did a good job,” Littleton said. “But you have to take your hat off to them (San Benito). They battled back that second half. They played hard and coach (Dan) Gomez has got ‘em playing real good.”
RIO GRANDE CITY 14, LA JOYA PALMVIEW 9: At Rio Grande City, Justin Guerra and Jason Lorena connected on a pair of touchdown passes, and the Rattlers’ defense largely pulled through to help score their first win of the year.
RGC (1-2) ended a two-game drought in which it allowed a combined 77 points with a defense that forced a half-dozen turnovers and allowed a score (by fumbling away the ball at the 5-yard line) and giving up a safety late in the fourth quarter.
Guerra found Lorena on scoring passes for 35 and 25 yards, respectively, to lift the Rattlers.
“Our defense played lights-out,” Rio Grande City coach Carlos Longoria said. “If you want to say who won the game, the defense won it. They made all the big plays. It’s just like I told our kids, ‘They play hard. They keep pounding the round, and eventually they’ll break it.’ We’ve had injuries galore, but I told them, ‘We have to be resilient. We have to be relentless. We have to play with purpose, play with passion and have pride.’
“We’ve had to make changes but today I think was just a good team effort. We finished the game. We finished the plays. We finished everything. And I think that’s why we did a good job.”
MISSION VETERANS 48, LA JOYA JUAREZ-LINCOLN 6: At La Joya, Santos Villarreal threw for four touchdowns and ran for another as Mission Veterans cruised past Juarez-Lincoln.
Villarreal found Bobby Tovar for three scores and Adam Solis for another. Running back John Garcia also scored on the ground as the Patriots bounced back from last week’s 44-8 loss to Odessa Permian.
“The biggest thing I’m happy with is our kids could hold a focus tonight,” Mission Veterans coach David Gilpin said. “To hold our focus and get the job done tonight, I’m really happy with our boys, for sure.”
BROWNSVILLE PACE 53, BROWNSVILLE LOPEZ 22: At Brownsville, the Vikings claimed their first win of the season on a damped night.
It only took a few minutes for this game to get out of hand. Pace (1-2) received the opening kickoff and scored three plays later on an 11-yard touchdown run by Lee Cortez.
On the ensuing possession, the Vikings recovered a fumble deep in Lopez territory. Jose Velez scooped up the football and scampered into the end zone to give Pace a 13-0 lead with 11:24 remaining in the quarter.
RAYMONDVILLE 21, LYFORD 12: At Raymondville, with 79 yards passing, 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns, the 75th annual Willacy County Cotton Bowl turned into the Christopher “Bam Bam” Trevino show at Burnett Stadium.
Raymondville came out firing on all cylinders after the half to beat county rivals Lyford 21-12, making it three consecutive times the Bearkats have come out on top.
With 6:28 left in the second quarter, Lyford’s Jaedon Taylor marked his return to Valley high school football by scoring the opening touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead that held into halftime.
Taylor’s return comes after a lengthy saga that saw the standout running back transfer from Harlingen South to Harlingen, Tennessee, and finally landing in Lyford.
PORT ISABEL 38, HIDALGO 17: At Port Isabel, with a new group of players displaying their football skills, the Port Isabel Tarpons are recording the same kind of winning results that the team’s fans have become accustomed to seeing.
Thanks to a strong second half after leading only 10-7 at intermission, the Tarpons got things rolling during the final two quarters to improve to 3-0 by knocking off the Hidalgo Pirates (1-2).
“I was real proud of our kids in the second half,” Tarpons coach Monty Stumbaugh said. “It was 10-7 at halftime, and it was anybody’s game.
“We told our guys (at intermission) that we were going to come out and do what we do, and they responded well,” Stumbaugh added, “We were able to run the football and we started playing good defense (just) like we were doing before, so I was real proud of the effort, especially in the second half.”
It was a good night for the Tarpons’ running back corps as seven of them touched the ball. They were led by J.J. Gonzalez and Alex De Los Santos, who rushed for 142 and 102 yards, respectively. Each scored a touchdown.
Gonzalez’s TD came on a 19-yard scamper around left end at the 6:30 mark of the third quarter to make it 17-7 following Misael Nava’s extra-point kick.
MERCEDES 28, LA FERIA: At La Feria, The Tigers improved to 2-1 by topping the Lions.
La Feria dropped to 2-1.
MONTE ALTO 27, AGUA DULCE 15: At Monte Alto, the Blue Devils won their first game of the season and improved to 1-2.
Agua Dulce fell to 1-2.
BROWNSVILLE ST. JOSEPH 34, LA VILLA 28: At Brownsville St. Joseph, the Bloodhounds improved to 3-0 while the Cardinals dropped their second straight to fall to 1-2.
SANTA ROSA 22, PROGRESO 6: Santa Rosa improved to 1-2, while Progreso fell to 1-2.
LOS FRESNOS 35, PSJA NORTH 34: At Pharr, Los Fresnos came back from a 34-14 halftime deficit to defeat PSJA North. The Falcons fumbled the ball six times in the first half.
Los Fresnos moves to 2-1, while PSJA North falls to 1-2.
LAREDO CIGARROA 28, VALLEY VIEW 0: At Hidalgo, the Tigers were blanked for the second time this season, losing their third consecutive game.
Cigarroa (2-1) bounced back from a 28-6 loss last week to Roma.