Harlingen High ready for challenge against SA Southwest

KINGSVILLE — See Tre'vion Johnson. See Tre'vion Johnson run. See Tre'vion Johnson run…a lot.

It's no secret that the SA Southwest Dragons love to run the ball.

In 10 games, including a bi-district beatdown of Rio Grande City last week, the Dragons have rushed for 2,770 yards.

Johnson leads the team with 1,202 yards and 20 touchdowns, including a 196-yard and four-TD effort against the Rattlers last week. SW has gained 3,542 total yards on the season.

So when the Harlingen Cardinals meet the Dragons at Javelina Stadium tonight in their Class 5A, Division I area game, all eyes are on the RB Southwest fans affectionately know as Tre.

"They preach toughness out there," Cards head coach Manny Gomez said. "They play old school, smashmouth football. They'll run right at you. Sometimes they might even show you which way they're running. But you still have to stop them."

Too many have tried. Not many have been successful.

Having a ball carrier like the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Johnson helps.

Johnson started the season off strong rushing for 266 yards and three TDs against Georgetown in the fire breathers season opener back in August. He then rushed for 251 yards and a couple of scores in a 14-13 win against state-ranked Cibolo Steel of the 4A ranks.

Since then, his best rushing effort came against Eagle Pass for 137 yards and one TD.

Johnson rushed for 1,006 yards in seven games during the regular season.

The Drags don't pass often and junior QB Felix Castillo has passed for 575 yards and five TDs this season. As a team, SW has passed for 772 yards.

"He's (Johnson) very talented and he runs hard," Dragons head coach Matt Elliott said. "We've got several kids that can carry the football and we've got a few that can catch the ball too. But Tre's our go-to guy."

Defensively the Dragons aren't bad either. Southwest yielded 252.9 yards per game and 114 total points during the regular season.

Harlingen (11-0) might be the toughest team SW (10-0) faces too this season since their meeting with Cibolo Steele.

Through 11 games, the Cards are averaging 407.6 yards on offense and giving up 196.6 on defense.

Not to mention, Harlingen's scored 535 points this season making it only the 11th school in Valley history to score over 500 points in a season.

Cards' QB Mack Sanchez has passed for 2,010 yards and 24 TDs this season and rushed for 764 more and 18 TDs. He's totaled 42 TDs this season.

Running back Pablo Garza's rushed for 1,076 yards and 16 TDs and Anthony Reyna's caught 47 balls for 952 yards and 11 TDs.

DE Mingo Rincon leads the Valley with 23 sacks this season.

"Well they can score points and they don't give up too many," Elliott said. "That worries me about Harlingen. They have a lot of talent over there. It's going to be a dogfight."

Gomez said his charges were ready to play football tonight.

"It's good to see how excited they are," Gomez said. "We're gonna go up there and play hard and show everyone that there's quality football in South Texas."

Eladio Jaimez covers District 31-5A for Valley Freedom Newspapers.