BROWNSVILLE — PSJA High’s Caleb Salas wasn’t expected to have a huge role in the Bears’ offense during his first varsity season, with the team returning a pair of veteran wideouts in seniors Andrew Castillo and Christian Gamboa.
A Week 1 injury to Gamboa, who accounted for 499 yards and nine touchdowns a season ago, thrust the sophomore wideout into a new role, stepping into the senior’s position.
Salas has seized the opportunity during the past two weeks, emerging as junior quarterback Jaime Lopez’s top option in the passing game. The duo continued to build their chemistry Saturday, connecting twice for touchdowns en route to a 37-20 victory over Brownsville Hanna at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.
“Caleb Salas, he’s coming in from a backup role with Gamboa being out with injury,” PSJA High head coach Lupe Rodriguez said. “He has stepped up. A lot of these guys are sophomores, so this is the first time they’ve tasted varsity football. The development and growth have been there week by week. I just told them to stay positive and trust the process. I know it’s a grueling schedule, but what doesn’t hurt you makes you stronger. It has definitely made us strong towards the end of our district schedule.”
The Bears’ offense has roared to life the past two weeks, tallying more than 900 yards after being held to just 363 yards during their first two games.
Lopez and Salas’ connection has been pivotal to the Bears’ offensive resurgence, combining for 414 yards and five touchdowns.
Lopez completed 21-of-46 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns Saturday, adding five carries for 19 yards. Salas hauled in four catches for 153 yards, scoring from 25 and 78 yards.
“It feels good now that we’re running as a full throwing offense,” Salas said. “That first week was something. Now, this week, I think we did pretty good. … Jaime has thrown some good balls. Hopefully we just continue to get better and I can run my routes even better.”
“We came in pretty rusty,” Lopez added. “We just didn’t have that connection because I had never played a varsity game with him before. These past few games we’ve been really building off that momentum. Gamboa got hurt and now Caleb is stepping in. Hopefully we can get Christian (Gamboa) back soon. We’re going to put up a lot of points. If you want a shootout, we’re ready.”
Trailing 24-6 midway through the fourth, Brownsville Hanna running back Kriz Peña went to work, attempting to spark a Golden Eagles comeback.
Back-to-back touchdowns by Brownsville Hanna’s workhorse made it a 10-point game with 5:56 left, scoring on runs of 5 and 65 yards. Peña finished with 29 carries for 264 yards and three touchdowns, adding three catches for 51 yards.
The Bears responded with consecutive scores of their own, including a 92-yard touchdown run by Tony Gomez to put PSJA High up by 23 with 3:14 left. Peña added a third touchdown with 40 seconds remaining, but it proved too little, too late with the Bears holding on for their first victory of the season.
“It’s a great feeling,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like the past two weeks we were the better football team and should have won some close games. Last week against Los Fresnos we lost a close one there at the end. The message this week was, ‘Let’s get one finally.’ We had two games left before our district schedule, so we wanted to end with a win this week and next week. It just an awesome feeling to finally get that monkey off our back.”
The Golden Eagles (1-3, 0-0) hit the road for their final non-district contest, taking on the Mission Veterans Patriots (2-2, 0-0) at Tom Landry Stadium in Mission. The Bears (1-3, 0-0) wrap up non-district play against the Brownsville Veterans Chargers (2-1, 0-0) on Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.
