(Edinburg, Texas)-It wasn’t pretty. The No.4 Edinburg Vela Sabercats (4-0, 1-0) proved to be too much for the McAllen Memorial Mustangs (1-3, 0-1) as they won their District 15-5A Division I opener 63-0 on Thursday night at Richard R. Flores Stadium in the Blue Diamond Realty Group Game of the Week. The Sabercats will now play HSSM’s top-ranked team, PSJA North (3-0) next Thursday night at PSJA Stadium in a showdown. “I’m just glad we came out with a win and tonight, I’m going to enjoy this one,” said Sabercats head football coach John Campbell.
The Sabercats never gave the Mustangs a chance. On the Mustangs first drive, head coach Moses Patterson elected to go for a field goal in the first quarter and that backfired as the Sabercats blocked the attempt and Alexzander Sotello picked up the pigskin and raced 85-yards for a touchdown to put the Sabercats up 7-0 with 3:52 left in the first quarter. Mustang fans were shocked. On the next kickoff, the Sabercats returned it 90-yards for another score by Justin Navarro. “I raced down and found the path,” says Navarro. Then it happened again, the Mustangs elected to punt from their own 24-yard line, the center snapped the ball over the punters head and Sotelo was there to recover the ball for another score to put the Sabercats up 21-0 with 11:34 left in the half.
The Sabercats just kept pouring on the points. After another turnover on downs, Sabercats RB Dimas De Leon scored from 25-yards to make it 28-0 with 9:01 left in the half and again, RB Jamal Polley found daylight running 51-yards down to the one yard line. He would score on a one-yard plunge to make it 35-0. The Sabercats added a 75-yard touchdown when sophomore quarterback Myles Lopez spotted WR Jaxson Shupe to end the first half ahead 42-0. On defense, Sabercats DE Jake Dufner pressured Memorial QB JP Cortez throughout the night as he batted two passes down with a forced fumble.
The Sabercats finished with 364 yards of total offense with Polley leading all rushers with three touchdowns on 14 carries for 157 yards. “It was a big win for us. I just want to thank God and my offense line. Next week will be another big game,” says Polley. The Mustangs were held to 127 yards on offense. Memorial will play host to La Joya Palmview (3-0) next week in District 15-5A Division I. (HSSMIMages)
The Edinburg Vela defense held the McAllen Memorial Mustangs to 127 total yards on Thursday night.