Our time: Patriots take down Mustangs in RGVSports.com Game of the Week
By BRYAN RAMOS
Staff Writer
McALLEN — “Anybody, anywhere, anytime” is a phrase Mission Veterans football lives by. The coaches preach it and the players wear it on the back of their shirts.
The No. 7 Patriots followed through by taking down No. 5 McAllen Memorial 27-20 in a back-and-forth battle in the RGVSports.com Game of the Week on Friday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in McAllen.
“We believe that. We came in here, we weren’t scared,” Mission Veterans senior linebacker Luis De Hoyos said. “We knew what type of challenge we had in front of us, and we took it like Coach (David) Gilpin tells us, ‘Anybody, anywhere, anytime.’”
The Patriots scored 14 unanswered points during the second half to surge past the Mustangs and improve to 2-0 on the year. McAllen Memorial moves to 1-1.
“It was exactly what I expected it to be — a dogfight. We like to talk about playing like junkyard dogs, you protect what’s yours and protect what’s on that lot,” Gilpin said. “That’s the mentality we want going into a football game. I don’t know who to praise more — our offense, our defense — they all performed.”
The Mustangs were the first to strike during the second half on a JP Cortez touchdown pass to Daniel Rivas, but the Mission Veterans defense came up with key stops when it mattered most. A sack by Mission Veterans’ Diego Gomez and Cody Von Wald forced a turnover on downs with less than a minute to play, leading to the Patriots lining up in victory formation.
“Definitely not happy with the outcome but the kids fought hard on offense and defense,” McAllen Memorial head coach Moses Patterson said. “All week we’ve been talking about the caliber of program that we’re going to see with Coach Gilpin and his staff. It was back-and-forth. They went up, we went up — just unfortunately ran out of time there at the very end.”
McAllen Memorial’s offense had a size advantage on the Patriots’ “Blue Dawg Defense,” but the play of senior linebacker De Hoyos and company proved they were ready for anything. On multiple occasions, De Hoyos was there to meet runners in holes and stop them dead in their tracks.
“We just came in and did whatever (defensive coordinator Simon) Mendoza told us to do. We knew that they were a physical team, they have a big O-line that was for sure bigger than us, but that don’t mean anything to us,” De Hoyos said. “We play with speed and physicality, and we do that with every team.”
Offensively, the Patriots outgained the Mustangs 292-269. Junior quarterback Vince Abrego, in his first year as a starter, kept plays alive with his legs and hit receivers and backs in pivotal moments. He finished with four touchdown passes and 232 yards through the air. He threw two touchdowns to Manuel Espinosa and one each to Jay Gonzalez and Pablo Lopez.
“I was able to move around, get yards, extend plays,” Abrego said. “It’s awesome to go win with my team and go to battle with my guys.”
McAllen Memorial’s Max Alaniz-Choy finished with 107 yards on 23 carries, and Cortez threw two touchdown passes to Dylan Goodson and Daniel Rivas.
Next for Mission Veterans is a non-district test against No. 3 Harlingen High at 7 p.m. Friday in Harlingen. McAllen Memorial moves on to face No. 4 San Benito at 7 p.m. Friday in San Benito.
“Somebody may beat us, but we’re going to fight you for every inch of the football field. We’re going to fight you as long as we can, and the physical toughness combined with the mental toughness of this team, now we get Harlingen as a reward,” Gilpin said. “We’re going to keep grinding away.”
