The first half wasn’t pretty, but the Los Fresnos Falcons didn’t let a 28-point setback stop them from coming back and defeating the Austin LBJ Jaguars 36-35 on Friday night at Leo Aguilar Stadium.
“Our kids worked so hard,” Falcons coach Patrick Brown said after the game. “We lift four days a week; we condition almost every day and we’re a fourth-quarter-type football team. I think it showed in that last quarter. Our kids were still going strong. … It came down to the last one who would throw a punch, and that just happened to be us.”
Los Fresnos (1-1) struck first in the first quarter after an 8-yard run by Chris Resendiz down the middle.
Shortly after, the Jaguars responded with a 1-yard quarterback keeper from Brian Batts to get on the board but failed to convert the point-after attempt.
During a penalty-heavy late second quarter and early in the third, the Falcons made too many mistakes and Austin LBJ rolled out to a 35-7 lead.
Batts once again found the end zone after an 11-yard run late in the second quarter.
The Falcons were trailing the Jaguars 12-7 at halftime.
Austin LBJ began the third quarter with a 75-yard kick return from Latrell McCutchin. The visitors successfully completed a 2-point conversion after Batts rushed to the end zone, giving the Jaguars a 20-7 lead.
Los Fresnos had an unsuccessful first drive of the second half and gave up the ball on its own 5.
Austin LBJ showed a strong ground attack on its second possession of the second half, successfully driving 95 yards to score once more.
After a 1-yard QB keeper from Batts and a successful 2-point conversion, the Jaguars were up 28-7 with 6:38 left in the third.
On the Falcons’ following drive, Austin LBJ forced and recovered a fumble. It took only an 11-yard pass from Batts to David Jones to give LBJ a 35-7 lead.
Yet, the Falcons kicked it up a notch late in the third with a 10-yard touchdown pass from QB Sergio Martinez to Nico Valencia, and forced a fumble that Los Fresnos’ Isaiah Muniz ran back to add more points for the home team.
“We made some halftime adjustments,” Brown said. “It’s hard for our kids to get adjusted to (Austin LBJ’s) speed because we just don’t see this type of athleticism down across the board. We made some adjustments on defense and offense, and we kind of figured out what they were doing up front, and I think we had a great game plan going into that second half.”
After another touchdown pass from Martinez to Valencia, this time for 17 yards during the last quarter, the Falcons found themselves in two critical fourth-down situations, on which they capitalized, the last allowing them to get to the Jaguars’ 2-yard line.
A quarterback keeper from Martinez was enough to get the Falcons one point shy of tying the game, but a penalty against the Jaguars during the point-after attempt allowed Los Fresnos to successfully go for a two-point conversion and the win.
First-year LBJ coach Jahmal Fenner said the Falcons fought hard until the end, which allowed them to take the victory.
“Los Fresnos just never gave up,” Fenner said. “We got ahead, and we got some costly turnovers and some penalties, and (Los Fresnos) played hard because they finished the game. For us, it’s a learning experience, and we got to learn how to finish the game.
“Congrats to Los Fresnos, they played hard, they finished the game, and good luck to them on their season,” he added.
LBJ (1-1) was coming off a 34-21 win on the road against the Elgin Wildcats in the team’s season opener.
Brown said it was the team’s plan all along to face tough Texas schools before district play begins.
“We played two great teams in a row; this is why we chose to play this type of schedule,” the Falcons’ coach said. “I think everybody who was at this game could see the type of team (LBJ) had, well-coached. … An amazing game. My hat’s off to LBJ. Those kids played so hard and traveled down here, and everybody got their money’s worth, that’s for sure.”