McHi's offense shines in win over sputtering RGC
McALLEN – Not surprisingly, the offenses shined in McAllen High’s 58-28 win over Rio Grande City on Thursday at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.
District 30-5A is not always particularly known for its stout defenses. That was evident Thursday as the Bulldogs improved to 3-1 on the season while the Rattlers fall to 1-3.
To be fair, McAllen High’s defense came through with a big goal-line stand in the third quarter and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter that led to a touchdown to give McHi a commanding 49-28 lead. The Bulldogs also held the Rattlers scoreless in the final frame.
The night, however, belonged to the offense. For the first time in school history, the Bulldogs had three players rush for more than 100 yards.
Quarterback Austin Griffith (110 yards, one TD), running back Trey Dube (163, four TDs) and wide receiver Nick Garza (105 yards, two TDs) eclipsed the century mark for the Bulldogs.
The closest the Bulldogs had come to that feat was in 1996 against La Joya with the trio of Dito Pompa (134), John DeWitty (98) and Tony Perales (93).
“The line helped us out a lot,” said Dube who scored on TD runs of 5, 6, 10 and 13 yards in the second quarter. “(The line) worked their butts off in practice. You can’t do anything without a line.”
McHi amassed 583 yards of offense, most of it coming on the ground (436 yards rushing).
It was an offensive explosion the Bulldogs had not seen this year.
“That’s the beauty of high school football is that it is a total team game,” Bulldogs coach Tony Harris said. “You can come out and play real well defensively and not real well offensively and still get a win and vice versa. Our offense had our defenses back today when we needed it. We got it done.”
Harris expected a stout running game from the Rattlers, who rushed for 358 yards and finished with 405 yards of total offense.
RGC could have tied it at 35 but fell inches short on a fourth and goal attempt from 3 yards out. Two plays later, Garza scored on a 91-yard TD run that put the Bulldogs up 42-28.
“In my opinion we played only three quarters,” Rattlers coach Jesus Lozano said. “We have to learn to finish the game. We played hard for three quarters but it just seemed like in the fourth quarter or late in the third quarter we didn’t play.”
Peter Rasmussen covers District 30-5A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448 or via e-mail at prasmussen@themonitor.com.
