RGVSports.com
Coming into Thursday’s matchup, the Edinburg Economedes Jaguars had a lot of things going their way: the familiarity with Thursday games, a shutout streak and, of course, home-field advantage at Richard R. Flores Stadium.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Weslaco High Panthers came in lacking some depth after multiple injuries. The Panthers were without senior receiver Devin Dena, senior middle linebacker Marco Noriega and senior defensive back Roy Trevino.
Weslaco High erased all of that in the opening minutes of the game, as the defense forced a three-and-out. Then, the offense took possession, and junior quarterback Jacob Cavazos ripped off a 45-yard run. Cavazos finished the drive with a 1-yard TD run on third-and-goal.
Those trends continued as Weslaco High (5-0, 1-0) held the Jaguars (3-2, 0-1) to one first-half first down and went on to win 44-0.
The rushing touchdown was Cavazos’ first of three on the night. He also threw for three touchdowns — one each to senior tight end Isaac Villarreal, junior receiver Jaden Cavazos and junior receiver K-jay Jones.
To start the second half, Jaden Cavazos’ huge return gave the Panthers the ball at the Econ 43-yard line. The Panthers kept things rolling into the second half and never let the Jaguars gain any momentum.
Senior running back Jeremy Coronado returned from injury for the Panthers on Thursday and played a significant role in his first game of the year.
LA JOYA PALMVIEW 28, PSJA SOUTHWEST 27, OT: At La Joya, the Javelinas gave the Lobos all they could handle, but Palmview (3-2, 3-1) came away with the victory in overtime.
“Tonight was a must-win, if we wanted to secure a potential spot in the playoffs,” La Joya Palmview coach Margarito Requenez said. “It’s one of those games that will haunt you if you don’t get the ‘W.’ We made sure that we executed how we wanted to. They’re a very sound ballclub all the way around. They took away some of our running game, and we had some miscues on one side of the ball. Other than that, we played as a team. I can’t be any prouder of my guys.”
The Javelinas and Lobos entered the overtime period tied at 21. La Joya Palmview won the toss and immediately went in for six thanks to a rushing touchdown from running back Adrian Vasquez.
After the Lobos kicked the extra point to go up seven, the Javelinas countered with a touchdown of their own. Southwest (1-4, 1-3) went for a two-point conversion to win the game, but the attempt failed.
The Lobos kept pace for second place in the district standings with Brownsville Veterans, which defeated Rio Grande City on Thursday to improve to 3-1 in District 16-5A Division I, as well.