PSJA High runs past Economedes
EDINBURG — PSJA High might be out of the playoff chase by the final whistle of Friday's games, but the Bears savored every moment of their 25-6 victory against Edinburg Economedes on Thursday at Cats Stadium as they used their trademark ground control game in the second half to put the game away.
PSJA (3-6, 3-3 District 31-5A) is now one-half game behind Edinburg High and Edinburg North in the league standings. The Bears need to defeat PSJA North next week and have the Bobcats or Cougars lose twice to make the playoffs.
“We are doing our part,” PSJA coach Mel Rios said. “We are taking care of things on our end. Last week, we knew we had to run the table and so far we have.”
The Jaguars (3-6, 1-5), who had already been eliminated from playoff contention, limited the district’s leading rusher Gilbert Espino to 65 yards on 18 carries. But fellow backs, Osvaldo Cantu (13-124) and Ruben Garcia (13-56) picked up the slack.
“The past two weeks, they’ve been keying on Gilbert,” Cantu said. “Ruben and I have stepped it up, and our offensive line has done a good job of blocking for us.”
The Jaguars came out strong in the second half as they trailed 10-6. They took the second-half kickoff and marched to the Bears’ 26-yard line. However, their drive stalled and the Bears answered with an eight-play march that was capped by a 7-yard touchdown run by Garcia to make the score 17-6.
“We needed to score on that drive,” Economedes coach Oscar Salinas said of his team’s initial series of the second half. “They got the ball and scored. We just missed a couple of passes (on that drive). That’s just the kind of year it’s been.”
The Bears’ next drive resulted in a missed field goal try, but Espino finished the one that followed with a 1-yard run and the subsequent two-point run for the game’s final scoring.
“That’s what we talked about at halftime,” Rios said. “We wanted to run the ball right at them. They gave us some problems in the first half, but we were able to make the adjustments.”
David Hinojosa covers sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You may reach him at (956) 683-4402.
