Mercedes rallies to stun Weslaco East in pivotal game

WESLACO — The words came slowly out of Weslaco East coach Armando Cuellar’s mouth.

He was watching his somber players slap hands with equally disappointed fans after their 28-24 loss in The Monitor’s Game of the Week. The Wildcats entered the game undefeated and had hopes of the school’s first district title but left Bobby Lackey Stadium stunned, surprised and saddened with the memory of watching Mercedes fans celebrate a victory.

“One thing we talked about is that this is part of life,” Cuellar said. “We’re going to come back and we’re going to learn a lot about our character and what we’re made out of heading into next week.”

The Wildcats led 17-7 at halftime but allowed Mercedes (5-3, 4-1) to rally to take a 21-17 lead with 10:50 remaining when Albert Chavez found a wide open Ruben Sosa for an 84-yard TD pass. Weslaco East then took its lead back 24-17 with 7:59 remaining on a 12-yard pass from Alonso Salinas to Bryan Guzman, who caught the pass after out-jumping the Tigers’ Luis Saucedo.

Chavez, though, completed another memorable night in his impressive season by scoring from 12 yards out with 5:50 remaining to put the Tigers on top 28-24. Chavez, who already led the Tigers’ win over Edcouch-Elsa, went 12-of-17 for 254 yards and two scores. Both of those were to Sosa, who had only three catches but 147 yards and two TDs.

“He’s a special kid. One of the things I think makes him even more special is that he makes the people around him better,” Mercedes coach Michael Uribe said. “I’ve been around a lot of them, and he ranks up there.”

By listening to Chavez, it was obvious that Friday night’s game was a special one to him.

“Oh man, it’s great man. The fans are going wild, the sidelines are going wild, the staff went wild, the team went wild,” Chavez said. “It was crazy.”

After Chavez’s TD, Weslaco East still had a chance to preserve its undefeated record. The Wildcats got to the Mercedes 11 with less than three minutes to play but were faced with a 4th and goal. Weslaco East QB Alonso Salinas’ pass into the end zone was initially handled by Alfonso Salinas, who couldn’t come down with it for a score because Jonathan Ortega hit him and knocked it out for an incompletion.

But Mercedes, despite Weslaco East being out of timeouts, couldn’t run out the clock and punted back to the Wildcats, who returned the punt to the Tigers’ 38 with 1:34 left. But on the first play, East snapped it with 1 second left on the play clock and neither Alonso Salinas or Addison Einhorn was ready and Einhorn recovered it but after a 22-yard loss. Two plays later, Alonso Salinas was intercepted and the game was over.

“Speechless. Just to cause that… speechless,” Ortega said of his hit. “They’re undefeated and we took it to them. We just brought it to them.”

Brian Sandalow covers District 32-4A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436 or via e-mail at bsandalow@themonitor.com.