Perez helps Lopez triumph 35-28 in Battle of Southmost

Lopez captured the Battle of Southmost with a 35-28 victory over Porter Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium and broke into the win column for the first time this season.

After spotting Porter a 7-0 lead in the opening period, the Lobos (1-8, 1-5 District 32-5A) erupted behind quarterback Danny Perez’s four touchdown passes in the second quarter.

The Cowboys (1-8, 1-5) took the ball 99 yards to go up 7-0 on a 33-yard pass from quarterback Matthew Bullock to Luis Alvarez with 2:47 left in the first period. Simon Flores added the extra point.

Then it was the Lobos’ turn in the second quarter as Perez tossed TD passes of 10 and 44 yards to Margarito Treviño before connecting with Ricardo Hernandez and Beto Rodriguez on scoring aerials of 71 and 40 yards, respectively. Rey Greenwood booted the extra points after the first three Lopez scores, but missed his fourth try after a penalty moved the Lobos 5 yards back.

During the first half, Perez completed nine of 13 passes for 324 yards. He finished the night completing 16 of 26 passes for 475 yards and five TDs with a pair of interceptions. Hernandez wound up with four receptions for 158 yards and Rodriguez had five catches for 140 yards.

Perez said he was connecting with his receivers just like in practice.

"We came out a little sluggish, and we just tried to fight back," Perez said. "We did what we could do to get the win. That’s what we needed the most. We practiced the long ball this week. We worked on our timing and things like that. It was working well in practice, and we just brought it to the field tonight. Numbers don’t mean anything, really. It’s the win that counts."

Porter pulled to within 27-21 with a pair of TDs during the third quarter. With 3:31 showing in the third period, Bullock found Robert Vidal open for a 28-yard scoring pass, and with 6.4 seconds remaining in the quarter, Charlie Quintero darted 4 yards into the end zone for the Cowboys to make it 27-21 after two Flores extra points.

With 9:23 remaining in the final quarter, Lopez went up 35-21 on a 31-yard pass from Perez to Hernandez. The two hooked up again for the two-point conversion.

"I’ve been around (coaching) 31 years and I’ve never been more proud of a group than I am of this bunch," Lopez coach Valentin Montemayor said. "We’ve had adversity, but our guys just fought through that and continued forward. They wanted to get a win, and they weren’t going to give up. We came close last week, this week we got the win, and next week, we want to finish up with another big one."

Bullock, who rushed for 116 yards for Porter, tallied on a 7-yard run with 25.7 seconds left and Flores hit the extra point to account for the final score.

"Lopez’s (receiver) speed pretty much outmatched my secondary," Porter coach Roberto Valdez said of the Lobos’ long scoring passes. "Lopez’s quarterback did a great job of flinging the ball out there. We tried to match up with different coverages, (but it didn’t work).

"Our players played hard and fought back," he added. "Like I said before, these kids have never quit on me. They battled to the last second again, and that’s what Porter Nation football is all about. They come out here and play hard for themselves, for the team and for the community."

Lopez closes the season next Friday at Weslaco High, and Porter plays host to Los Fresnos the same night in its season finale.

It was a sweet victory for the Lobos, who lost to Porter 51-28 last year at Sams.

Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com.