STAFF REPORT
The Mission Veterans Patriots were a walking wounded entering Thursday’s game at Rio Grande City. Four starters, including outside linebacker Jazz Vallejo and safety Elias Delgado, did not play against the Rattlers. But the injuries didn’t end there.
Junior wide receiver Mikey Garcia, the Patriots’ leading receiver through three weeks, missed the game because he pulled a hamstring during pregame warmups. The Patriots also lost starting defensive lineman Jose Ortiz because of an MCL sprain by halftime, but still beat Rio Grande City soundly 48-7.
“Last year, when we came down to Rio (Grande City), we lost Aaron (Fernandez) and Gio(vanni Grimaldo) from our secondary,” Mission Veterans coach David Gilpin said. “Rio played a physical ball game with us, because they’re a physical team. We gave as good we got, don’t get me wrong. We didn’t have any season-ending injuries at the moment. We’ve got (Brownsville) Porter next week and a bye after that, so we’re hoping we can heal up and get ready for the stretch run.”
The Patriots (3-1, 3-0) were terrors on the ground, led by running back Danny Cantu. After scoring his first touchdown on the ground last week against Brownsville Veterans, Cantu ran for three scores at Joe R. Sanchez Stadium.
EDINBURG ECONOMEDES 17, ROMA 0: At Edinburg, the Jaguars got their offense rolling in the second half, and the defense shut the door on Roma at Richard R. Flores Stadium.
The Jaguars, who have become accustomed to Thursday night games over the last few weeks, improved to 3-1 on the year. The Gladiators slipped to 1-3 to start the season.
“The way the defense is playing, it gives me the confidence to do a lot of things on offense,” Econ coach Gabe Peña said. “There was no panic at halftime. We were confident as ever. We knew we just needed to make the adjustments the coaches were seeing up top. We came out and executed on that first drive and got rolling.”
On that drive, Econ utilized big first-down runs from senior Abel Moreno, who also plays on defense, and junior PJ Soto on back-to-back plays. That put the Jags at the 2-yard line, where senior quarterback Albert Guerra Jr. punched the ball in to give his team a 7-0 advantage.
With time getting low in the fourth quarter, Econ junior kicker Ramiro Gonzalez drilled a 35-yard field goal to push Econ’s lead to 10.
Roma got the ball at its 25 with less than two minutes to play, but quarterback Jonathan Rios’ pass to senior running back Felix Gomez was intercepted by Economedes senior linebacker Marco Plata, who ran the ball back for a touchdown, sealing the Jaguars’ third shutout win of the year.
“(The shutouts) just light everyone up,” Pena said. “It motivates the whole team. The offense is cheering for the defense, and the defense is pulling for the offensive guys.”