By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
It was a rough start for Pace, and it didn’t get any better.
The Vikings were sacked on their first offensive play and the unit struggled to get anything going against the Mercedes defense. The Tigers’ offense benefited, building a commanding lead during the first half and defeating Pace 54-0 in the District 32-5A opener for both teams Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“We just couldn’t get the offense going. The poor defense had to sit there on the field for the whole first half,” Pace coach William Deen said. “You can’t get upset with the defense. We had some opportunities with some great stops and let some big plays go.
“But it comes down to the offense just not getting it done.”
Pace didn’t get anything going on offense and punted on six of seven drives during the first half. The Vikings went for it on fourth-and-1 on their other drive but were stopped and gave the ball back to Mercedes. The second half was more of the same, as the Vikings moved the ball sparingly.
“You have to get first downs, you have to be able to run the ball,” Deen said. “We couldn’t run the ball until the second half, but it was too little, too late.”
The Mercedes defense was relentless, sacking Pace quarterback Luis Rodriguez twice, forcing a pair of fumbles, grabbing an interception and limiting the Vikings to 72 yards.
“We know we have something special with our defense,” Mercedes coach Roger Adame Jr. said. “They fly to the ball. We practice physical, and we preach that to them. We believe in 11 hats to the ball, and they believe in that. … Our defense makes things happen for us.”
The Tigers took advantage with four first-half touchdowns on the ground — running back Fabian Ledesma scored three of them — and quarterback Zack Gomez threw a pair of touchdowns as Mercedes took a 41-0 lead at the half.
Mercedes added a pair of touchdowns during the second half, on an 11-yard run from Ledesma, his fourth of the game, and a 62-yard pass play from DJ Saenz to Richard Urbina to take a 54-0 lead.
Pace drove for a score late in the fourth quarter, but Rodriguez was intercepted in the end zone to end the threat and Mercedes ran out the clock and preserve the win.
“We preached starting fast,” Adame said. “Our team believes in that, our team believes in physicality and going out there with a workman’s mentality. We had a couple weeks to get ready for this, and they were hungry. They wanted to come out here and start the district on the right foot and get that victory.”
Once again, the Vikings’ struggles on offense have hurt them on the other side of the ball.
“You just can’t leave your defense on the field,” Deen said. “You can’t do that at any level of football. I don’t care how good your defense is, if they’re out on the field the whole game, it doesn’t help.
“We’ve done that two weeks in a row and it’s costs us.”
But the Pace coach wanted to find the bright spots.
“I thought the kids played hard the second half,” he said. “We’ll see what changes we need to make and make this team better. There are ways to fix it. You have to make sure you have the right kids on the field.
“But you have to move on, you can’t dwell on it.”
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.