31-5A notes: Red isn’t dead after all

On paper, Harlingen’s offense looked good on Friday against PSJA North.

The Raiders led District 31-5A in team defense yielding 223.6 yard per contest heading into the game.

The Cards racked up 305 yards against the tough PSJA North team with a well-balanced attack, 153 rushing and 152 passing.

On the field, Harlingen looked downright spectacular.

Kudos to head coach Manny Gomez, who’s spent the past few weeks working with that Cardinal offense.

Even in wins against Edinburg, Edinburg North and Edinburg Economedes, the Cards didn’t look great.

Until this past weekend.

Gomez brought over to the offensive side the fire and energy he’s drilled into the defense all these years and that “something” finally stuck.

Gomez and his staff opened up the playbook and Harlingen looked like the Cards of a few years ago with Robert Sanchez and Albert Gonzalez calling the shots.

QB John Murphy made his second straight start and was effective guiding the Cards to a 26-7 halftime lead against the Raiders.

Former starting quarterback Ryan Koite got some playing time at running back and was just as big a catalyst as Murphy.

It only made sense to put two playmakers like Murphy and Koite in the game at the same time.

Murphy’s two touchdown passes came on the first play of its respective drive. Koite also threw a TD pass on a halfback option in the first play of a drive just before the half.

Murphy ended up with 91 yards passing and two scoring strikes. Koite tossed one score from 61 yards and ran another from 72 in the second half.

Receiver Angel Cantu caught four passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns.

Harlingen’s special teams even came through as Gomez called for an onside kick early in the game, which the Cards recovered.

Return man Luke Lucio also had two big kick returns for 62 yards that helped set up the Cards offense.

The Harlingen defense and fans breathed a huge sigh of relief after Friday’s win.

The Cards clinched their eighth straight playoff berth and 31st in school history.

But most importantly, Harlingen looked good doing it. And what better time to start playing good football than in November.

That’s more like it.

IT’S PLAYOFF TIME: The four playoff teams from 31-5A are set. Even who they’ll play in the first round is set. We’ll just need to wait a few more days to find out when and where.

Harlingen South can clinch the outright district title with a win against PSJA on Saturday in the Valley Morning Star’s Co-Game of the Week.

A Bears win gives the Hawks a share of the crown with the San Juan school.

As of now, Harlingen will end up the third seed with a win against PSJA Memorial on Thursday. Edinburg North will be the fourth-place team.

But the seeds don’t matter since Harlingen and PSJA will represent the big schools in the Division I bracket and South and North the smaller ones as D-II.

The Hawks take on San Benito again and North will face the amazing Weslaco Panthers.

South beat the Greyhounds last season in bi-district and the Cougars are making their first postseason appearance since 2001.

Harlingen will play against Los Fresnos in the two schools’ fifth meeting in the past four years. Harlingen is 3-1 against the Falcons including a win earlier this season.

The Bears will play Brownsville Pace in what should be a walk through for PSJA High.

NEVER SAY DIE: Even with nine losses on the season, the Edinburg Bobcats won’t roll over for anyone.

Playing against one of the top teams in the Valley in PSJA, the Bobcats took the Bears to overtime before PSJA won in extra time.

Eddie Alfaro rushed for 132 yards and two TDs and Isaac Escobar passed for 118 yards and on TD in the valiant effort.

REAL GAMERS: The following are some of the players that came up big for their respective teams around the league.

* Harlingen South’s Steve Mata and Sean Messick each scored twice in a 42-14 win against the Economedes Jaguars. Mata scored both TDs in the last quarter and a half.

* Edinburg North’s Oscar Hernandez rushed for 96 yards and one TD in the Coogs 14-7 win against PSJA Memorial.

* PSJA’s Justin Villanueva rushed for 139 yards and three more touchdowns to help the Bears to a 31-24 overtime win against the winless Edinburg Bobcats.

* The Bears George Rodriguez rushed for 139 more yards and one more score.

Eladio Jaimez covers District 31-5A for the Valley Morning Star. He can be reached at 956-430-6285 or eladioj@valleystar.com.