EDINBURG — Edinburg North running back Ulysses Melendez rushed for three first-half touchdowns and the Cougars steamrolled the Mission High Eagles 31-3 on Thursday at Richard R. Flores Stadium in Edinburg.
Melendez gashed the Eagles’ defense to the tune of 14.8 yards per carry, finishing with a game-high 178 yards on 12 carries. He found the endzone four times, scoring on runs of 5, 25, 35 and 43 yards.
“I feel good but I couldn’t do this without my big boys,” Melendez said. “I love my big boys up front. They all deserve some food, some pancakes. The holes were pretty open and big, the biggest I’ve seen. I was just telling myself not to get touched.”
Sophomore wideout Osmar Alanis added 103 yards receiving, hauling in five of senior quarterback Oscar Campos’ 10 completions. Campos finished 10-of-17 for 126 yards.
Defensively, the Cougars stifled the Eagles’ offense, holding them to just 116 yards, 56 which came on Mission’s final drive resulting in a 32-yard field goal by Angel Guajardo with 2:32 left.
Linebacker Sam Cerda and defensive back Keyshawn Garcia anchored the defense, swarming to the ball constantly.
“We knew we had something special on defense and they’ve been getting better every week,” Edinburg North head coach Damian Gonzalez said. “Obviously, there are still things we need to correct, but I’m really happy with the way they’ve progress and gotten better every week. There are still some things we need to fix. We had some missed tackles and times where we didn’t attack the line of scrimmage like we should have. But overall I’m real happy with what we saw. These guys did a tremendous job defensively from the beginning to the end.”
The victory moves Edinburg North to a quiet 5-2 overall, flying under the radar for most of the season. They’ve reeled off three straight victories of three or more touchdowns, including back-to-back district wins.
The Cougars have outscored opponents 106-24 during their three-game winning streak, averaging 35.3 points per game and allowing just 8 points against.
“I want these guys to be under the radar and stay humble,” Gonzalez said. “I want them to continue to work for what we’re trying to achieve. Piece number one is to get a playoff spot. Next thing is go out and try and get a district title and number three is make a good playoff run. There is no reason we can’t do any of those things with these guys.”
The Cougars (5-2, 2-0) turn their attention to a huge district matchup against PSJA High (3-4, 2-0) on Thursday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr. The Eagles (1-6, 0-2) return home for a contest against Edinburg Economedes on Friday, Oct. 21 at Tom Landry Stadium in Mission.
