Donna too much for Brownsville Rivera in physical battle

Even without star running back Jacob Balli, the Donna Redskins’ backfield attacked Rivera’s defense at all angles.

The Redskins combined for 245 yards and its stingy defense surrendered only one score as Donna muscled past Rivera in a physical 24-7 victory Saturday night at Sams Stadium.

"It was a great win for the kids," Donna coach Manny Moreno said. "I think all three phases of our team really kicked in tonight. Coach (Jim) Helms runs a great program and they have a tough football team, but our kids came through tonight."

Moreno said Balli did not play due to disciplinary reasons and would not comment further on his status.

Redskins place kicker Fernando Sanchez went a perfect 3-for-3 on the night, including a long 48-yard field goal to put Donna up 6-0 with 8:03 in the second quarter.

Eduardo Fraire added another score on the Redskins’ ensuing possession running to paydirt from 17 yards out and breaking several tackles as he reached the end zone.

Fraire also caught the two-point conversion, giving his team a 14-0 advantage.

Rivera cut the deficit in half on its second possession of the third quarter, when quarterback J.J. Sanchez hit wideout Richard Reyes in stride for a 50-yard touchdown reception.

It looked as if the tides were turning as Rivera picked up a fumble by Gabriel Martinez with 4:49 in the third quarter.

Yet Donna’s defense stiffened and held Rivera to a three-and-out, and the Redskins’ offense delivered the knockout punch with a 12-play, 83-yard scoring drive.

Donna quarterback Alahn Yanez crossed the goal line on a 3-yard, play-action bootleg that fooled the defense, allowing him to practically walk in for 21-7 advantage with 10:14 left in the game.

~"That was a huge stop for us," Moreno said. "Like I said, all three phases stepped up. Offense came up big, defense came up big and special teams came up big when they had to."

Rivera committed two costly turnovers. One was an interception by Sanchez in the first quarter that killed a potential drive to put Rivera up, and then a fumble by Helms’ junior QB early in the fourth quarter was recovered by Donna to put away the game.

"We cannot have turnovers, and we had them at the most inopportune time in the game," Helms said. "We have too much experience to do those things, and we have to do a better job on special teams.~ We’ll get better and I thought the kids gave great effort, and as long as they are doing that all the other things are correctable."

Louie Vera covers District 32-5A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at lvera@brownsvilleherald.com.