(Edinburg, Texas)-It wasn’t pretty. On Friday night, two teams ranked in the Top 10 polls by High School Sports Magazine collided in their season openers. It was No.5 Edinburg Vela Sabercats (1-0) knocking off No.9 Edinburg North Cougars 50-14 in non-district action at Richard R. Flores Stadium in Edinburg, Texas. Sabercats head coach John Campbell watched his team put up 23-points in the first quarter and ended the first half ahead 33-7.
The Sabercats rotated three quarterbacks on Friday night. Senior quarterback, Bobby Garcia (6’0 175lbs) got the start and fired a 47-yard touchdown pass to senior WR Carlos Tamez and he finished the night rushing eleven times for 54 yards, scoring one touchdown. Vela then brought in sophomore transfer from Victoria West HS, Braden Luedeker (5’10 170lbs) and he rushed eight times for 34 yards and scored two touchdowns. Last season at Victoria West, he led the team to the playoffs and passed for 2,032 yards, 17 touchdowns. He also rushed for 531 yards and eight TDs. Another sophomore quarterback, Myles Lopez (6’2 175lbs) also made his debut under center and connected on a 62-yard touchdown pass to senior WR Justin Navarro.
The 31-6A Edinburg North Cougars just could not stop the Sabercats running attack throughout the night. Sabercats junior RB Jamal Polley led the team with 14 carries and 99 yards rushing, scoring one touchdown and RB Dimas De Leon had 48 yards on the ground.
The Sabercats will meet Edinburg (1-0) next Friday night at 7:00 p.m. at Flores Stadium. The Cougars (0-1) will play at Brownsville Rivera (1-0) on Friday at Sams Stadium. Both games are non-district contests.
The Edinburg Vela Sabercats DE Jake Dufner and OL Noah Rocha helped lead the team to a 50-14 win over the Edinburg North Cougars on Friday night. (HSSMImages/Jose Flores)