NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — PSJA North already held a 13-6 lead and were pushing to extend its advantage to two possessions over visiting Laredo United South in the Class 6A DI Bi-District round in the second quarter.
Then came the whistle. A whistle that shouldn’t have been blown and nearly derailed the Raiders train to the second round.
Senior quarterback Iziaah Rangel faked a handoff to running back Isaac Gonzalez and fooled almost all of PSJA Stadium, including the officials who blew the play dead, by holding onto the football.
Meanwhile, Rangel was standing in the end zone for a touchdown that didn’t count.
The Raiders made sure that moment wasn’t the defining play of the game by beating United South 25-17 to advance to the area round.
PSJA North didn’t punch the ball in for a touchdown on the next two plays and missed the field goal attempt on fourth down.
“We were kind of shaky about it, but we just came together as a team and got it done,” Rangel said after the win.
Directly after the missed field goal, the Panthers marched downfield to take advantage of the situation. Brian Benavides scored the touchdown and two-point conversion to put United South up 14-13.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Raiders made a memorable moment of their own. Nathan Salinas began the return but the ball came loose. The ball landed in the hands of his brother, Marco Salinas who went the remaining 70 yards for a score and quick response.
“He’s my brother so I knew I had to be there for him,” Marco Salinas said. “I saw the ball come out and my instinct was just to take it and go. The hole was already there it was just those two guys.”
The Raiders retook the lead that they only relinquished for mere seconds and never let go.
“We needed to score so that our team could know we were going to win and that we could come out harder in the second half,” Marco Salinas said.
The first 24 minutes was full of special teams adventures. North kicker Jose Alvarez was battling through a toe injury which contributed to two missed extra points and a missed field goal.
United’s Robert Ortiz missed an extra point but nailed a field goal during the game.
Arturo Beltran scored PSJA North’s first two touchdowns on drives set up by a balanced attack of Rangel’s passing and rushing ability.
Rangel led his team in scoring with 117 yards on the ground. In the second half, he finally found himself in the end zone with a one-yard rushing score.
“It feels good, especially if the linemen keep blocking for me like they’re doing,” Rangel said. “We can give a break to the other good runners we have on our team.”
Rangel was 8 for 14 through the air.
Even though the first half was an offensive onslaught, the second half delivered much tighter action.
North’s defense played strong to slow Benavides, who had gashed the defense in the first half for two scores.
“This is what we’ve been training for all year,” Senior linebacker Ryan Reyna said. “When we work together this is the turnout we get. This is all we’ve been working for and we got it.
The Panthers were held to just a field goal in the second half. Aaron Alvarez, Albert Elizondo and Zeth Arevalo all recorded sacks on Efrain Hernandez.
Seven Sanchez clinched the win with an interception on fourth down.
“The first half was really anyone’s ball game. In that third and fourth quarter that’s when we really started picking up,” North senior Arturo Beltran said.
The win marks the first time PSJA North advances in the postseason since 2009.
“What’s good about what happened to us early in the year, the fumbles and those type of deals, is the fight back, no matter what happens,” Raiders coach Marcus Kaufmann said. “(The called-back touchdown) wasn’t caused by us in that situation, but we had to persevere and come back.”
The Raiders keep chugging in the 6A DI playoffs. They will host San Benito at 2 p.m. Friday. The Greyhounds knocked out Edinburg High in bi-district.
“If you were in the stands right here it got pretty loud,” Kaufmann said. “Hopefully it’s even more people here next week helping us out. Our kids are real emotional kids and they feed off that.”