This time, Tigers' late heroics fall short against Sandcrabs

KINGSVILLE — Mercedes head coach Mike Uribe stood on the 20-yard line of the south end of Javelina Stadium on Saturday and preached family values.

His team, muddied and tired, and some even crying, listened attentively as Uribe talked about life after football, the importance of family, brotherhood and most importantly the importance of being a man.

Uribe’s talk was like a sermon. And it was a wonderful speech.

Just not the one Uribe wanted to make this early in the postseason.

Port Lavaca Calhoun took advantage of a couple of Mercedes turnovers and overcame its only deficit of the game early in the fourth by scoring 20 unanswered points en route to a 47-39 win against the Tigers here on Saturday in a Division II-4A area game.

“You obviously want to win but there’s a bigger picture here,” Uribe said. “I want these guys to be proud of what they’ve accomplished. They’ve learned discipline and family values and they’ve made an entire community proud.

“I want them to know that this is not the pinnacle of their lives. It’s only a stepping stone.”

In the postseason for the fourth straight season, the Tigers won their first postseason game since 1999 last week when they defeated Tuloso-Midway in Corpus Christi.

Mercedes (8-4) was looking for its first second-round win since Ruben Hinojosa led the Tigers three-deep in 1957.
But it wasn’t to be as the Sandcrabs (9-3) made just a few more big plays this time around.

Mercedes made one of its biggest plays first on defense when Raymond Vela scooped up a Crabs’ fumble and returned it 35 yards to give the Tigers a 32-27 lead with 11:46 left in the game. It was Mercedes’ first lead of the game.

But the ever relentless Sandies came right back with three scores in the span of just over three minutes.

PL quarterback Brandon Sanders scored his third of four rushing TDs from four yards with 10:01 left in the game to go ahead 33-32 after the failed two-point play.

The tide turned on the ensuing possession.

Mercedes QB Albert Chavez got picked off by MacGyver Chapa on the first play of the drive at the Tigers’ 30 and returned it 25 yards to the five.

Michael Mullins took care of the rest scoring on the first play to give the Crabs a 40-32 lead.

The Calhoun defense held the explosive Tigers’ offense on the next possession to a three-and-punt making way for Calhoun’s bruising ground game.

It only took two plays, though, as Sanders broke free for a 53-yard run to give PLC a 47-32 lead with 7:50 left in the game.

With about six minutes left in the game, Chavez got picked off again in the end zone by Chapa ending that threat.
Despite his two picks, Chavez had his best game of the season completing 28-of-44 attempts for 392 yards and four TDs.

“I feel like I let my team down,” said Chavez. “I want that one ball back. That pass I shouldn’t have thrown… I want it back so bad.”

Teary-eyed and still wearing his helmet, Chavez stood on the blue track shaking hands and getting hugs from Tiger fans young and old.

Kids came up to the 6-foot-3 gentle giant just to shake the hand of the only quarterback Mercedes has known the last three years.

A hero? Often over and misused, the term might be a stretch.

Chavez has definitely etched his name in Valley football lore, though.

“Albert is a very special young man,” Uribe said. “He was very valuable to this team and not just from a physical standpoint. He was a leader for us. I wouldn’t trade him for anyone.”

Mercedes scored on a Chavez two-yard run with 2:05 left in the game. But time wasn’t on Mercedes’ side anymore as Calhoun just ran out the clock as the Crabs move on to play San Antonio McCallum at the Alamodome on Saturday.

Calhoun racked up 423 total yards including 404 on the ground.

Sanders led the way with 197 rushing yards and four TDs on 30 hauls. The bruiser Mullins rushed for 102 yards on 15 carries and scored once.

In the first half, PLC looked like world beaters early on as the Sandcrabs moved the ball methodically on the Tigers defense.

Calhoun scored on its first three possessions including on a six-yard run by Jeremy Loya with 5:45 in the first to give the Crabs a 7-0 lead after the PAT.

But Mercedes didn’t go away and Chavez engineered a three-play 75 yard drive that culminated with Chavez hitting a Ruben Sosa on a 47-yard scoring strike to knot the game at seven.

Port Lavaca would score on its next two drives building a 20-7 lead with 8:26 left in the first half.

But it was the gutsy play calling of Uribe that kept the Tigers in the game.

Down by 13 and facing a fourth-and-five from the 45, Mercedes opted to punt.

Or so it seemed.

Rick Izaguirre took the direct snap and rumbled 24 yards to the PL 21.

Chavez and the Tigers scored two plays later when on a seven-yard TD pass to Omar Gonzalez.

Mercedes finally got its first defensive stop when they forced the Sandcrabs to punt on the ensuing possession.

Then the gambling Uribe struck again.

Facing a 4-and-1 from their own 26, Uribe elected to go for it and Chavez picked up two yards.

A few plays later, Mercedes faced a 4-and-3 from the Calhoun 19. This time Chavez hit Jono Ayala for an 8-yard gain for the first-and-10.

Chavez would find Ayala again, this time in the end zone on an 11-yard strike to tie the game after missing the PAT.

“It shows you believe in the kids,” Uribe said of going for it on fourth downs. “I know these kids could get that first down. So we went for it.”

Eladio Jaimez covers high school football for Valley Freedom Newspapers.