STAFF REPORTS
The Pace Vikings earned their first district win of the season by defeating the PSJA High Bears 26-22 in a District 32-5A game Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The Vikings took a lead late in the fourth quarter but had to get a big stop on defense to seal the victory.
Pace trailed during the first half, but Gabriel Zapata scored with seven seconds left before halftime to give the Vikings a 20-15 lead.
During the second half, Luis Rodriguez scored a touchdown — his second of the game — to give Pace a 26-15 lead.
The Bears scored a touchdown late to get within four points but weren’t able to earn the road victory and remained winless on the season.
“I’m on Cloud 9,” Pace coach William Deen said. “It was a great game, it was a lot of fun, both teams played really hard.
“It always feels good to get your first district win. I feel really good for the kids. They worked their tails off, they never gave up (Friday) and they fought to the end.”
Deen hopes the win can lead to others.
“Hopefully it helps snowball us into the next game with Porter,” he said. “We know they’re a good football team and winning games right now, so it’s a big game.”
TAPPS DIVISION I DISTRICT 2
ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY 69, SAN ANTONIO CHRISTIAN 34
St. Joseph Academy also earned a victory over San Antonio Christian during the district opener for each team at Lions Pride Stadium in San Antonio.
The Bloodhounds rushed for eight touchdowns, four apiece by Kai Money and Mario Garcia. Money also threw a touchdown pass as St. Joseph was did what it does best on offense.
The Bloodhounds led 21-7 after the first quarter and 35-20 at halftime. St. Joseph then outscored the Lions 34-14 during the second half to seal the victory.
The defense also forced four turnovers to bring its total to 28 takeaways on the season. St. Joseph has yet to turn the ball over this season.
“We wanted to run the ball, and we did that very well,” St. Joseph coach Tino Villarreal said. “That was our game plan, to come out here and establish the run, and we were able to do that.”
Villarreal was happy to start off the district season with a victory.
“We came out here and did what we thought we could do, and picked up our first district win and it’s huge for us,” he said. “Last year we started from the outside looking in. I’m very proud of the entire team.”