Mustangs shoot out of gate in win against rival Warriors

McALLEN — If the rest of McAllen Memorial’s games start the way Friday night’s 63-33 win over McAllen Rowe did, the Mustangs will win their second consecutive District 30-5A championship.

Just 51 seconds in, quarterback Matthew Kaufmann found a wide-open Ben Garcia down the middle for a 67-yard touchdown. The score, and the ease of the play, were indicative of how the rest of the night would go.

“Our motto for this week was ‘Keep your motor running,’” said Kaufmann, who completed 7 of 12 passes for 209 yards and four scores. “That’s what happens when we keep our motor running. We all stay focused on the same page. That’s what happens when we actually get together and focus in practice.”

In the first half alone, the Mustangs scored six times on six possessions. They got one of their scores when Andrew Salinas picked off a Josh Gatling pass and returned it 60 yards for a score and a 28-0 lead to end the first, which led to a 49-12 halftime advantage for the Mustangs. The Warriors, meanwhile, didn’t manage to stop the Mustangs (6-1, 3-1) from scoring a TD until their seventh possession, which was their first of the second half.

Now, heading into the defining stretch of their season with games against McAllen High, Sharyland and Donna, the Mustangs have regained some of the momentum they lost from falling two weeks ago to Rio Grande City.

“I don’t know if we were trying to prove a point. We were just trying to play good football,” Memorial coach Bill Littleton said. “We’ve been trying to play good football every week and the last two weeks we’ve played pretty well on both sides of the ball.”

Rowe coach Gary Lauer declined to comment.

Kaufmann by no means was the only reason the Mustangs did what they did offensively Friday night. Memorial also was led by Gabe Phillips, who scored three times and rushed for 100 yards, and Garcia, who had only three catches but for 129 yards and three scores. He also had one score and 100 yards on the ground.

Overall, Memorial gained 533 yards.

“Me and Matthew just hooked up on a couple plays. We had that going,” said Garcia, whose three TD receptions were for 67, 21 and 41 yards. “Our whole offense was rolling. That helped out a lot.”

It would help the Mustangs even more if the offense continues to play that way the rest of the season.

“We need to go in and play well every single week,” Littleton said. “We’ve got the tough part of our schedule ahead of us.

“We can’t rest. We have to get ready to play.”

Brian Sandalow covers high school sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436 or via e-mail at bsandalow@themonitor.com