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DONNA — Mercedes dominated Donna North on Friday night, holding the Chiefs to approximately 25 yards while piling up almost 300 yards of offense in a 40-0 win at Bennie La Prade Stadium.
Five different Tigers scored touchdowns. Daniel Martinez had two, and Joshua Garza, Brandon Gutierrez, Rene Presas and David Alvarado, a linebacker playing some running back, all scored one.
“The offense is playing with a lot of confidence,” Mercedes coach Roger Adame Jr. said. “Everyone knows about (quarterback) Rene (Presas) and Josh (Garza), but we had everyone in the act. We have options, and Rene knows that. People can take certain things away, but not everyone.”
Defensively, the linebackers were the stars, flying all over the place and making the big plays.
The Tigers (4-1, 2-0 32-5A) could get better news Wednesday when senior running back Isaac Vela gets a check-up on his progress from a leg injury suffered two weeks ago. The Tigers have a tentative timetable that Vela could return by the Oct. 17 game versus Edcouch-Elsa.
EDCOUCH-ELSA 38, BROWNSVILLE PORTER 7: At Elsa, the Yellowjackets remained undefeated in 32-5A play and improved to 3-2 overall.
Edcouch-Elsa went up 13-0 during the first quarter and led 35-0 at intermission.
“Any time you get a victory, it’s always a good thing,” E-E coach Joe Marichalar said. “We did a better job of controlling the clock tonight, and I think a lot of things were going our way. This whole week we had been talking about the fact that we have yet to play a complete game.
E-E tailback Lino Sanchez rushed 2 and 10 yards, respectively, for touchdowns in the opening period. The scoring spree continued during the second quarter as running back/quarterback Christian Valdez bolted 26 yards for a TD before teammate Andrew Segura found the end zone on runs of 18 and 4 yards.
For E-E, Ricky Moreno, Valdez and Segura finished with 104, 84 and 62 yards rushing, respectively. Moreno, a speedster out of the backfield, went over the century mark on just four carries.
Porter (2-3, 1-1 district) hurt itself with turnovers early in the contest and could never quite get its offense untracked until near the end when a 42-yard scoring pass from QB Frank Alvarado to wide receiver Israel Yanez put the Cowboys on the scoreboard to make it 38-7 with 6:34 left.
LA JOYA PALMVIEW 14, MISSION HIGH 7: At La Joya, Palmview gained more than 300 total yards on offense and played stifling defense to beat Mission High.
“Our defense is what kept us in the game,” Palmview coach Mage Requenez said. “Our defense made some tough stops.”
The Lobos had an interception and forced another turnover via fumble.
Offensively, Palmview continued to have success running the ball, as Jose Bernal and Freddy Villarreal each scored touchdowns. Only Palmview’s four lost fumbles allowed Mission to keep the game close.
“We really punished them,” Requenez said. “The scored doesn’t tell how well we played, because of all the fumbles we had.”
RIO GRANDE CITY 24, SHARYLAND PIONEER 0: At Rio Grande City, the Rattlers came up with four fourth-down stops and the Rio Grande City offense was spread evenly as it picked up its first district win of the year.
“It feels good,” RGC coach Carlos Longoria said. “Any time you win, it’s a great feeling. We’ve just got to get back on the grind. We still made a whole lot of mistakes offensively, but our defense has been playing well. It’s just one of those things that (the defense) came up lights-out. They just set the tone and we were able to capitalize on their plays. I guess you could say the offense fed off of them.”
Jason Gorena found Justin Guerra on a 42-yard score midway through the opening period. Casimiro Olivarez, in his second game back from injury, scored on a 23-yard scamper in the third quarter. And Eddie Garcia’s 4-yard run helped improve the Rattlers’ record to 2-4 overall, 1-1 in district.
Sharyland Pioneer dropped to 3-3, 1-1.
HARLINGEN HIGH 37, BROWNSVILLE HANNA 21: At Harlingen, the Cardinals’ defense forced two turnovers on Hanna’s first three possessions and led from there.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals(3-2, 2-0 32-6A) offense punched in four first-half touchdowns behind the efforts of senior quarterback Bowie Davis – who returned to the lineup after sitting out five weeks with a calf injury – and running back Leo Tienda.
Davis posted 117 yards in the first half, including a 14-yard touchdown to A.J. Herrera, while Tienda scored on runs of 5 and 6 yards to start the game.
SAN BENITO 17, LOS FRESNOS 14: At San Benito, Alejandro Lugo drilled a 27-yard field goal that eventually won the game.
Senior quarterback Cristian Sierra willed his way to 101 yards rushing along with 163 passing while wideout Victor Gaitan was the go-to man with 102 yards receiving on five grabs. In addition, the ‘Hounds defense clamped down on the Falcons’ run game, allowing just 184 yards.
HARLINGEN SOUTH 35, BROWNSVILLE LOPEZ 0: At Brownsville, the Lopez offense moved the chains, but didn’t have anything to show for it in the first half. Harlingen South took advantage of good field position and scored two rushing touchdowns and went on to win.
The Lobos had the opportunities on offense, but didn’t convert drives into points. Lopez missed two field goals and threw an interception on another drive to end the first half.
The Hawks made the most of their opportunities, Alec Garza broke free for a 29-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Javier Olvera found a hole in the Lobos defense for 39 yards and another score in the second quarter to give Harlingen South a 14-0 lead at the half.