Harlingen Cardinals continue to impress vs. Rio Grande City

HARLINGEN - It smells like excitement in Cardinal Country.
In their second and final scrimmage before the start of the 2008 regular season, Harlingen looked about as sharp as could be expected as the Cardinals defeated Rio Grande City 9-2 in the controlled portion of the exhibition on Friday at Harlingen High School.
The teams also played two quarters which ended in a tie 14-14.
"I was really excited with what I saw today," Cards head coach Manny Gomez said. "We still have a lot of work to do and we gave up a couple of big plays on defense. But we're just getting started."
Harlingen's offense looked more like the product fans expected when Spencer Gantt was hired as offensive coordinator in January.
The first-teamers got two sets of 15 plays and the backups two of 12.
Harlingen's first team scored five times with quarterback John Murphy throwing three touchdown passes to three different receivers.
Leo Gonzalez caught a 20-yard strike during the first set of 15 plays.
Luke Lucio and Anthony Reyna each nabbed a scoring pass during the second round of 15.
Lucio caught one from about 10 yards out and the speedy Reyna burst up the middle for a 70-yard score on the ensuing play.
Backup running back Orly Rodriguez scored twice on the ground with the first team. Rodriguez scored both times from about 20 yards. He scored one other time with the second team offense.
Starting tailback Pablo Garza put on a show as well rushing for approximately 170 yards on six carries during the controlled scrimmag.
The hard-running junior ran through, over and around the RGC defense.
Garza scored both of Harlingen's TDs in the real-game situation portion from 35 and 25 yards.
Harlingen's first team put up approximately 420 yards on offense during the controlled portion.
"It's really simple," Gomez said. "We just sit back and take what the defense gives us. And the kids understand that and it showed here tonight."
RGC's first group did all the scoring for the Rattlers.
Rio quarterback Danny Hinojosa tossed a 60-yard scoring pass in the first set of 15s. He threw another during the second go around from about 10 yards.
Other than those two scoring plays and a few others, RGC's offense was pretty quiet.
""We faced a good team today," RGC head coach Jesus Lozano said. "I thought we controlled the line of scrimmage during the first set of 15 plays. And we moved the ball well. But we played a really good ball club. They're one of the tops in the Valley."
Harlingen's second team scored four times. Mack Sanchez threw one and ran for another score. Edward Martinez also scored on a 20-yard run.
EDCOUCH-ELSA 7, GREGORY-PORTLAND 7: At Gregory, the Yellowjackets played the state's No. 11 4A team to a standstill and gained more confidence and preparation for their season-opening trip to Corpus Christ Calallen next week. Edcouch-Elsa won the controlled portion of the scrimmage 1-0 but lost the open part 7-6.
"We stayed up with them. We dropped two passes that would have gone for touchdowns and it would have been a different story," ‘Jackets coach Joe Solis said. "It's good for us. Coming up this week against Calallen will be a big game for us. I thought it was good. It was a good experience for us."
SAN BENITO 14, MISSION HIGH 0: At San Benito, Greyhounds head coach Mario Pena was pleased and disappointed following his squad's second scrimmage of the preseason.
The Greyhounds held the Mission Eagles to 126 total yards in the win.
But the offense was a little lackluster in the exhibition.
"We dropped some passes and fumbled in the redzone," Pena said. "We need to work on being more consistent and we're going to rectify that before we start district."
San Benito had already played in a scrimmage and the Eagles, meanwhile, were competing in their first.
Mission High opens the season next Saturday when the Eagles play host to Corpus Christi Flour Bluff while the Greyhounds start their 2008 season next week against UANL.

Eladio Jaimez covers football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. He can be reached at eladioj@valleystar.com