PHARR — Edinburg North kicker Ramiro Vargas connected on six field goal attempts and the Cougars defeated the PSJA High Bears 18-8 on Thursday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.
Vargas accounted for all 18 of the Cougars’ points, converting 6-of-7 field goal attempts. His 36-yard field goal with 3:39 left put the final nail in the coffin, giving Edinburg North a 10-point advantage. Vargas finished with field goals of 23, 28, 29, 31, 35 and 36 yards.
“When I was warming up I was doing horrible. I was kind of doubting myself,” Vargas said. “I had to pick up my team and ended up scoring 18. It was very nerve-wracking but I got them through. Its a very big win. It feels awesome to be 3-0 in district right now.”
Running back Ulysses Melendez powered the offense, carrying the ball 24 times for 175 yards before leaving the game with an injury late during the third.
Outside of Melendez, the Cougars struggled to get things going, with costly penalties and broken plays forcing them to turn to their special teams.
“Sometimes win like these are good for a team,” Edinburg North head coach Damian Gonzalez said. “I told the kids today that I didn’t care if we won by one or 100. At the end of the day, we wanted to collect the third piece to the puzzle. We set out on a mission at the beginning of the year and said we have to collect five. We want a district title here. We think we have the team here. We know we have the team for it. We’re taking everything just one game at a time. Every week it’s been about collecting a piece. Tonight we collected piece number three. Tomorrow we’re going to come in and start working for piece number four.”
Defensively, the Cougars shut down PSJA High’s offense, which entered the contest averaging a district-leading 344.9 yards per contest. The Bears were limited to just 179 yards, going 3-of-11 on third down.
The Cougars’ defense forced PSJA High quarterback Jaime Lopez into making several mistakes, picking him off three times. Federico Cappadona came away with two interceptions and Sam Cerda made the final interception with 3:26 left, ending any hopes of a PSJA High comeback. The Cougars also had a forced fumble during the contest.
“The defense didn’t do anything different than what they’ve been doing the past four or five weeks,” Gonzalez said. “Coach (Lonnie) Garza and his defensive staff is doing a tremendous job of formulating a game plan. They executed it tonight. They had a couple of little breakdowns but it comes with the game. We’re not going to be perfect. Overall, I couldn’t be any more proud of our defensive unit. They did a tremendous job of executing what we wanted to do today and that is keeping Jaime (Lopez) in the pocket and making him throw from there and put pressure on him.”
Edinburg North (6-2, 3-0) returns home for a contest against intracity rival Edinburg High (5-3, 3-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28 at Richard R. Flores Stadium in Edinburg. The Bears (3-4, 2-1) wrap up their two-game home stint at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, hosting Mission High (1-6, 0-2) at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.
