Mendiola leads Patriots, Gilpin to win over South
MISSION — After Friday night’s season opener, Mission Veterans Memorial quarterback Eddie Mendiola said he felt great. And after the performance the senior quarterback had, why wouldn’t he?
In his first varsity game starting under center, Mendiola passed for 201 yards with three touchdowns, including one on the ground, to lead the Patriots to a dominating 27-2 victory over Harlingen South on Friday night at Tom Landry Stadium.
“I feel excited and not just for me, but for my team,” Mendiola said. “We’ve been through a lot of hard work all summer long. Last week was kind of a struggle. I didn’t have much reps, but after today I did good with a team.”
Mendiola was so convincing in his debut that he made a believer out of Patriots coach David Gilpin, who was all smiles after the game after making his own debut as the team’s new head coach.
“Tonight he seemed to have a lot better grasp of what was in front of him and I tell you what, we were real pleased with him,” Gilpin said. “Offensively, it was a big night for us.”
Indeed in comparison to South’s offensive output, Mendiola’s consistent performance enabled the Patriots’ offense to gain chemistry. With the Patriots holding a 7-0 advantage in the second quarter, Veterans put together its most impressive drive of the night, a 12-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a 22-yard touchdown pass from Mendiola to Joe Tovar (five receptions, 109 yards, one touchdown) with 5:19 remaining in the first half.
Mendiola redeemed himself on that series after he cost the team an 18-yard loss after his pitch back to running back Alex Sanchez was off.
Sanchez was as equally as impressive on the night, rushing for 69 yards on eight carries plus a 42-yard reception during the winding moments of the second quarter that ultimately gave the Patriots a 21-0 lead at halftime after Sanchez was stopped at the 1.
The Patriots totaled 328 yards of offense and held the Hawks to 164 yards.
About the only thing that went wrong for Mission Veterans was its play on special teams. The Hawks began most of their first-half drives in decent field position but could never sustain a drive long enough to get into a rhythm.
The Hawks were without starting quarterback Brain Avila after he suffered a broken collar bone during last week’s scrimmage and their youth showed with backup quarterbacks Zack Flores and Steven Remmenga.
Flores and Remmenga combined for 113 yards passing for the Hawks.
