CORPUS CHRISTI — The McAllen Memorial Mustangs found themselves deadlocked at zero with the Corpus Christi Veterans Eagles late during the second half.
With 16 seconds left, the Eagles delivered a crushing blow, with Luke Johnson taking a screen pass 53 yards to the house, giving his team a one-touchdown lead going into the break.
McAllen Memorial was unable to recover following Johnson’s score, with the Eagles erupting for four second-half touchdowns, as the Mustangs fell 35-0 in the Region IV-5A DI semifinals Friday at Buccaneer Stadium.
“It was definitely a stinger,” Patterson said. “We thought we had them. We thought we were going into the half 0-0. We came up a little short on that last play. We had to battle back and adjust. They’re a great group of kids over there. They came up on the right end and unfortunately we were a little short.”
The Mustangs struggled to move the ball against a stout Eagles’ defense, mustering only 147 yards of offense, while going 2-of-10 on third downs.
Junior full back Max Alaniz-Choy paced the way for the Mustangs, finishing with 88 yards on 19 carries.
Defensively, the Mustangs contained the Eagles during the first half, before Corpus Christi Veterans senior quarterback Aiden Hinojosa took over, throwing for three second-half touchdowns, while adding another on score ground.
Up 7-0 at the half, the Eagles opened the second half firing out of the gate, driving 60 yards down the field in less than two minutes to take a two-touchdown lead on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Hinjosa to Gonzalez.
After forcing a Mustangs punt on the ensuing drive, the Eagles found the end zone again, with Hinojosa keeping it himself for the four-yard score.
Hinjosa put the nail in the coffin with a pair of touchdown passes to Cameron De La Peña and Jace Nicolet during the fourth quarter, punching the Eagles’ ticket to the Region IV-5A DI finals.
Hinjosa completed 15-of-20 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns, each to a different receiver, while Nicolet led the Eagles with a game-high 134 yards and one score on four receptions.
With that, the Mustangs’ season comes to a close, finishing with aNa 11-2 overall record during Patterson’s first season at the helm. The Mustangs earned their first outright district title since 2017, while also advancing to the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
“Just thinking back to the journey we talked about all year, we knew it was going to be a magical journey,” Patterson said. “I’m really proud of the kids. We made it to the third round. We hadn’t done that in a while. They just persevered through so much. My hat goes off to them.
“It stings right now but I do want to say I’m so proud of this group. I love them all. They’re all special sons to me. I hate it for the seniors. But I’m looking forward to start building things up again with our underclassmen.”
