(Mission, Texas)-On Friday night, the 31-6A defending champions, Edinburg North Cougars (4-3, 2-0) pulled off another win, this time over Mission (2-5, 0-2) 42-34 at Tom Landry Hall of Fame Stadium. The Cougars will now face PSJA (4-3, 2-0) on Thursday at Richard R. Flores Stadium in a key game. The Eagles will fly to meet the Economedes Jaguars on Friday in Edinburg with playoff hopes on the line.
In the second half, Edinburg North Cougars watched Uylesses Melendez score on 49-yard burst to make it 28-27. Head coach Damian Gonzalez made the call to run the same play again on their next possession, this time Melendez would break loose on a 59-yard touchdown to make it 35-27. Melendez finished the night with three scores and leading the Cougars to 402-yards of total offense.
The Mission Eagles had their big opportunities to win. Eagles RB Thomas Aparicio scored twice on 29-yard TD followed by a 62-yard run to tie the game at 21-21 in the first half. With the game tied 21-21 in the fourth quarter, Mission forced a Cougar fumble and was returned to the Cougar 12-yard line. On the next play, the Eagles would strike with a touchdown pass from quarterback Diego Salinas to put his team up 28-21. From this point on, the Cougars went on to win a wild 42-34 score. (HSSMImages/Ibarra)
Mission RB Thomas Aparicio scores on 59-yard touchdown run against Edinburg North. (HSSMImages/Ibarra)