Mission Vets rallies past Rowe
McALLEN – Most of Mission Veterans Memorial’s wins usually don’t come in rallying fashion. Friday night was an exception as the Patriots’ Joe Tovar hauled in a two-yard pass from Eddie Mendiola with two seconds remaining to pull out a 20-14 victory against McAllen Rowe.
Mendiola rolled right and found Tovar coming across the end zone. The throw was perfect and the Veterans’ side of McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium erupted with glee.
“This was emotional for me because I’ve never been put in this spot before,” Mendiola said.
Not many of the Patriots have in fact.
“In my seven years here at Veterans, these are the kinds of games that we end up losing,” said Veterans coach David Gilpin, in his first year as head coach after serving as an assistant at the school for six years. “We’ve never been able to finish games in the fourth quarter.”
That looked like it was going to be the case again when Rowe took its first lead of the night when Rowe’s Danny Ramos scored on a two-yard run at the 6:59 mark of the fourth quarter. Manny Pena’s extra point put Rowe in the lead, 14-13.
Veterans drove the ball to the Warriors’ 18 on the ensuing drive before the Patriots turned over the ball on a bad pitch by Mendiola. Rowe, however, went three-and-out and that set up the winning drive for the Patriots.
The game-winning mark took 51 yards and seven plays. A big third-down conversion from Mendiola to Raul Becceri kept the drive alive. Rowe (0-1) was then flagged for a face mask on a Mendiola sack with 10 seconds remaining.
Penalties and turnovers hampered both teams’ efforts. Rowe was penalized nine times for 67 yards and Veterans 10 for 77. The Patriots were called for illegal man downfield four times, wiping out two big plays, including a touchdown.
“Last week (against Harlingen South), we played error-free football and tonight was just the opposite,” Gilpin said. “We made lots of mistakes, but I told our guys, we made those mistakes and we still won the ballgame and we’re 2-0.”
Veterans showed some big-play capability early when it opened the scoring on a 22-yard TD catch by Ryan Montoya at the 6:04 mark of the first quarter. That came after a 42-yard run by Sanchez. The two-play scoring drive took 44 seconds and gave Veterans a 7-0 lead.
Daniel Navarro scored from seven yards out on an option keeper early in the third quarter. The score was set up when Rowe recovered a fumble on Veterans’ 22 on a punt return.
Alex Sanchez scored from 10 yards out on a pitch to the left with 9:04 remaining in the fourth quarter to give Veterans a 13-7 advantage. One play before, Ruben Casiano beat double coverage to catch a 40-yard pass on third-and-12.
