By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
After rain delayed the start by two hours, Porter didn’t get off to a good start, and its troubles continued throughout the afternoon.
The Cowboys struggled against the Tigres’ powerful rushing attack, as the defense allowed 206 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.
The Tigres kept running and opened up the rest of their offense, piling up 151 yards through the air and another score, leading to a 37-0 defeat of Porter on Saturday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“Maybe just a hangover from the win, I really believe that,” Porter coach Tom Campos said. “We know we have a better team than we had out there today.”
Elvis Rodriguez got UANL on the board midway through the first quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead. UANL kicker Jonathan Llanes connected on a 53-yard field goal later in the quarter to put the Tigres up 10-0. Llanes was 3 of 3 on the day, also hitting from 29 and 40 yards.
The Tigres kept moving the chains during the second quarter and Marcelo De Luna found Luis Coronado for a short gain, but the receiver found a seam and zigzagged his way to the end zone for another touchdown to give UANL a 17-0 lead that it took into halftime.
“We play a spread offense, and we knew they played open (on defense) that we could run on them,” UANL coach Carlos Cabral said. “Normally we play a balanced offense, but we made the game plan different. Probably 70 percent running and 30 percent passing, taking advantage of the defense.”
Porter’s offense did not find its way, especially a rushing attack that ran for only 55 yards on 30 carries against the physical UANL defense. Campos wasn’t sure why his team had a letdown.
“I don’t know if we expected to come out and win because we did last week, but the attitude was completely down,” he said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of emotion. When we came out from the locker room, we were flat.”
The second half didn’t get easier for the Cowboys’ defense.
After Cesar Gonzalez broke loose on a 33-yard touchdown run to give the Tigres a 24-0 lead, the UANL defense picked a Frank Alvarado pass on the second play of the Cowboys next possession. Less than one minute later, UANL got a 19-yard touchdown run from Eric Salcedo to take a 31-0 lead midway through the third quarter.
“We knew coming into the game that they were going to be big and physical, I think it wore on us,” Campos said. “They did a great job running the ball. They moved us around pretty good today.”
Llanes added a pair of field goals to seal the overwhelming victory for the Tigres.
Campos thought it was a good lesson for the Cowboys after an emotional win in the Battle of Southmost against Lopez.
“I think we kept thinking about how good we played last week,” he said. “I told the team, ‘If you keep looking back you’re going to trip on what’s ahead,’ and that’s what happened.
“I thought it might be a trap game, one of those games when you come off a high and play a team you don’t know a whole lot about. I think it just came back and bit us in the butt.”
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.