EDINBURG — Edinburg Vela senior quarterback AJ Sotelo has been named The Monitor’s high school football Player of the Week for his performance Friday against Weslaco High.
Sotelo played his finest game of the season in the SaberCats’ third appearance of the 2020 season in The Monitor’s Game of the Week, leading his team to a 38-33 comeback win over the Panthers thanks to a second-half surge in the bi-district round of the Class 6A Division II Texas high school football playoffs.
Sotelo completed 18 of 24 passes, his best mark of the season in terms of completion percentage, for 260 yards through the air and a pair of touchdowns with no interceptions. The SaberCats’ senior also ran for three touchdowns on the ground on 10 carries for 46 yards, all season highs.
Sotelo scored twice in the final 6 minutes of gameplay against Weslaco, first diving into the end zone on the ground to help Vela retake the lead with about 5 minutes to go. Then on the next drive, he hit senior wideout Mito Perez in stride along the sideline for a 73-yard touchdown that put the game on ice.
In that game, Sotelo also moved into fifth place on the all-time leaderboard for UIL quarterbacks in Rio Grande Valley football history (73).
On the season so far, he has tallied 1,240 passing yards, completed 67.2% of his passes and scored a combined 17 touchdowns.
Edinburg Vela (6-0) will face San Antonio Brennan (9-1) in the area round of the 6A DII playoffs at 7 p.m. Friday at Buccaneer Stadium in Corpus Christi.
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