Mission High overpowers La Joya Juarez-Lincoln

LA JOYA — If La Joya Juarez-Lincoln thought it was prepared to stop Mission High quarterback Gilbert Gonzalez, it was sorely mistaken. The Eagles were rude guests as they rolled to a 37-7 victory in a District 32-4A game on Thursday night at La Joya ISD Stadium.

Gonzalez tore up the Huskies’ secondary early, going 13-of-19 passing for 161 yards with two touchdowns and a scoring run in the first half. For the game he was 19-of-27 for 300 yards, including a 97-yard TD to wide receiver Mike Reynoso off a screen pass in the third quarter.

“Without a doubt Gilbert is getting better every week,” Mission coach Mario Peña said. “He’s beginning to pick (the offensive scheme) up, and learn it a little better. That’s the good thing for us, is every week you seem him getting better.”

The Eagles’ first score came after a Juarez-Lincoln three-and-out. A poor punt gave Mission (4-1, 3-0) good field position, setting up Gonzalez to scamper 25 yards for the score.

The other two scores in the first half came off an 8-yard pass to Reynoso, and a 52-yard bomb to wide receiver George Niño midway through the second quarter.

“We want to win district, so we came in more prepared,” Gonzalez said. “They’re pretty tough and physical. We just overpowered them, and we have more athletes than them, so the better team won.”

The Huskies (3-2, 1-1) managed a score with 7:46 left in the half — the result of an 11-yard TD run by halfback Joel Garcia — but trailed 24-7 going into the locker room.

After that it was all Mission. The Eagles tallied 13 points in the second half to put their opposition away, counting a 66-yard dash by running back Joaquin Rios.

“Tell you what, my hat’s off to Mission, they’re a hell of a team,” Juarez-Lincoln coach Aaron Garcia said. “I think I’ve said it since last year, they’ve got a lot of talent, lot of speed and they’re very aggressive. Hey, they’re good at what they do.”

Although there were a few heated scuffles during the game — there was even an occurrence where coaches rushed the field — neither team seemed overly concerned.

“There was a lot of trash talking, but it’s all in the game, not off the field,” Gonzalez said.