(Edinburg, Texas)- At Richard Flores Stadium on Thursday Night, the Edinburg Vela Sabercats (5-1, 2-1) took charge after the end of the first quarter tied at 14-14 with the Rio Grande City Rattlers (3-3, 1-2) and scored 28-points in the second quarter to finish the night, winning 70-27 in District 15-5A Division I. At one point, the Rattlers led the Sabercats 14-7 with scores by RB Javier Vallejo and Alexis Chapa. “They (Vela HS) are a very good football team,” says Rio Grande City HS head football coach, Jesus Lozano. “We just need to regroup and getting ready for La Joya Palmview next week.” Rattlers Victor Cardenas led all rushers with 160 yards, one 82-yard kickoff return, and one more rushing score.
The Rattlers opened up the second half down 42-14 but a 82-yard kickoff return narrowed the score. Despite rushing for 262 yards with their Slot-T offense, the Sabercats proved to be too much with RB Dimas De Leon adding a 42-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter and TE Rolando De Leon added another score with 6:06 left to play to make it a 70-27 final.
The Sabercats finished the evening completing 21-of-24 passes for 302 yards with six touchdowns behind senior quarterback Bobby De Leon and sophomore Myles Lopez. The Sabercats also added another 215 yards on the ground on 32 carries and three scores. Garcia had 206 yards passing for the night, including a five-yard TD pass to Dimas De Leon. He ended the night with four touchdowns passes. Sabercats WR Justin Navarro had a big night with ten catches and three touchdown scores. “I’m happy with tonight’s win in district and we just need to keep getting better each night. The Rattlers are a very good team,” says Vela head coach John Campbell.
The Sabercats will travel to play McAllen (3-3, 2-1) next week while the Rattlers will play host to La Joya Palmview (4-1, 1-1) at Joe R. Sanchez Stadium.
