McHi makes quick work of Donna

McALLEN — McAllen High coach Tony Harris was pleased that he could call it an early night after Thursday night’s game.

After the Bulldogs defeated Donna 34-9 in a District 30-5A contest that took a little over two hours to play, Harris said he was pleased with the way his team ran the ball.

“As I get older, I am kind of digging this running stuff because the games end early,” Harris said. “We ran the ball very effectively tonight and our kids played real well tonight.”

McHi improves to 4-2 in District 30-5A and 2-1 overall while Donna falls to 4-2 and 2-1.

The Bulldogs got on the board first as quarterback Austin Griffith scampered 36 yards to the house to take a 7-0 lead with 48 seconds left in the first quarter. Griffith, who left the game late in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, accounted for 252 of McHi’s  387 yards.

Griffith scored his second touchdown in the night as he ran it in from 15-yards out giving the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead with 9:36 left in the first half.

Donna finally got on the board as Fernando Sanchez nailed a 28-yard field goal, cutting the lead to 14-3 with 6:30 left in the first half.

The Redskins narrowed the gap to 14-6 as Sanchez hit a 48-yard field goal with 2:29 left in the second quarter. As time expired, Sanchez connected on his third field goal of the night, a 43-yarder, which trimmed the lead to 14-9 at the half.

McHi extended its lead to 20-9 as Trey Dube scored on an 11-yard run with 11:20 left in the fourth quarter.

Griffith continued to work his magic as he hooked up with Nick Garza on a 15-yard scoring pass as the Bulldogs stretched their lead to 27-9 with 9:01 left in the contest.

Garza scored his second touchdown of the night, this time on the ground, as he ran it in from 32 yards out as McHi extended its lead to 34-9.

Donna struggled offensively as it managed only 239 yards, turned the ball over three times and was penalized five times for 45 yards.

“We shot ourselves in the foot tonight and killed ourselves with penalties and turnovers,” Donna coach Manny Moreno said. “Also, in the first half, we were in the red zone and instead of getting touchdowns, we settled for field goals.”

“I always tell my kids if you smell the end zone you gotta score and we didn’t do it tonight.”