By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Pace wanted to end the season on a high note, and the Vikings received help from a player in his final game.
Senior quarterback Luis Rodriguez scored on three first-half runs to give Pace a lead it did not relinquish, and the Vikings defeated PSJA Southwest 31-21 during their District 32-5A season finale Thursday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“It feels really good to come out and beat PSJA Southwest. Last year we lost to them in our last game,” he said. “It means a lot to us as seniors. I knew I had to go out and play my best. Not just for me, but for the team, for the seniors on this team, so I came out and played my best.”
Rodriguez ran for 155 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 127 yards and one score to lead Pace in his last high school game. The Vikings’ defense did its part by forcing three fumbles and had two sacks.
“Luis had a great game and for a senior. You couldn’t ask for anything more than he did today,” Pace coach William Deen said. “It’s satisfying as a coach to see a kid play like that, so it was fun to watch him.”
The senior got Pace on the board on its first drive of the first quarter. Rodriguez capped it with a 4-yard touchdown run as the Vikings took a 7-0 lead.
The Vikings’ defense forced a fumble on the Javelinas’ next drive, and the Pace offense took advantage. One play later, Rodriguez took a 27-yard run to the end zone to give Pace a 14-0 lead.
“The defense got after it,” Deen said. “We talked about getting a quick start and the defense did. They got a turnover and we scored. We did everything we talked about that we felt we had to do to get ahead of them and make them chase us. We knew if we could make them chase, we could get them out of their game plan.”
PSJA Southwest got one back during the quarter as Darren Estrada hit Justin Corona on a 62-yard hook-and-ladder, but Rodriguez scored on a 16-yard run during the second quarter to give the Vikings a 21-7 lead that they held at the break.
“We started slow, we started sluggish,” PSJA Southwest coach Jesus Reyes said. “We always preach about starting fast, and we just didn’t do it. We dug ourselves in a hole and tried so hard to get out of it that we started to press and make mental errors.”
In the third quarter, Rodriguez hit Gabriel Zapata on a 65-yard strike to extend the lead to 28-7. Later, Pedro Perez hit a 25-yard field goal to give the Vikings a 31-7 lead.
Late in the third, the Javelinas’ Jesus Acosta scored on a 1-yard run and added the 2-point conversion to cut the deficit to 31-15.
Early in the fourth quarter, a Pace fumble led to another PSJA Southwest score as Acosta’s 9-yard run made it 31-21.
But late in the game, the Vikings’ defense forced another fumble to stop another Javelinas drive, and Pace let the clock wind down to seal the victory.
“We’re not a come-from-behind type of team, we have to play sound,” Reyes said. “But the boys didn’t give up, they didn’t lay down and that’s one thing we’re proud of them for.”
Deen was happy to finish the year strong. Pace won two in a row to finish the season.
“It’s going to propel us into the offseason, propel us into next year,” he said. “It was a big win. It was our third district win. We only had two last year. I’m proud of the kids.
“They bounced back when they didn’t have to. They bounced back and believed and won two big games at the end of the year, and it was exciting.”
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.