East gets back on track with easy win over Veterans

WESLACO – The first quarter of No. 10 Weslaco East’s 38-13 win Thursday over Mission Veterans Memorial showed why the Wildcats were once 7-0. They needed 19 plays and 9:31 to go 76 yards on their opening possession, capping off the drive with a 2-yard Bryan Guzman score to take an early 7-0 lead.

After the Patriots couldn’t handle the ensuing kickoff, Weslaco East recovered at the Patriots’ 5. The Wildcats needed three plays before Addison Einhorn score from 4 yards gave East a 14-0 lead with 2:22 left in the first.

During that first quarter, Weslaco East (8-2, 5-2) ran 23 offensive plays to only three from the Patriots. And though their dominating performance couldn’t undo the damage their losses to Mercedes and Mission High inflicted, Thursday night at least got the Wildcats back on track before their bi-district matchup with Calallen.

“We showed a lot of resilience coming back the way we did,” Weslaco East coach Armando Cuellar said. “Back-to-back tough losses but these youngsters know how to get back on their feet. I was very proud of their effort.”

Weslaco East got its eighth win of the season the same way it got its first seven. The defense, which spent much of the season near the top of the district in yards and points allowed but surrendered 70 over the previous two weeks, gave up only 13 points and sacked Mission Veterans quarterback Adrian Morales four times and intercepted three of his passes.

The running game, which has become one of the Valley’s most potent, had two 100-yard rushers in Einhorn (20 carries, 113 yards, two TDs) and probable district-leader Bobby Gonzalez (19 carries, 145 yards, one TD). Overall, the Wildcats gained 349 yards on the ground against the Patriots (6-4, 4-3).

“We couldn’t make it 0-3 going into Calallen,” Weslaco East quarterback Alonso Salinas said. “That is a big game. We want to have the momentum. We want to build it back.”

Though neither team could change its playoff pairing Thursday, both were aware of what the game would mean for momentum. Mission Veterans, which had a three-game winning streak snapped, will face Flour Bluff next Friday night in Kingsville.

Mission Veterans coach David Gilpin knows that a repeat of Thursday means that Flour Bluff will end the Patriots’ season.

“It’s not what we were looking for at all,” Gilpin said. “We’re real disappointed in our effort tonight. We came out in the first half and they just physically lined up and whooped us.”

That’s something the Wildcats’ opponents had been saying the first seven weeks of the season. They hope they can carry that over to next week against Calallen, especially the first quarter.

“We’re a powerhouse,” Salinas said. “We go right down teams’ throats. That’s how it’s done.”

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.