PHARR — Roma’s historic season shows no signs of slowing down after the Gladiators won a thriller against the PSJA Memorial Wolverines 48-40 in a double overtime battle of unbeaten teams in the RGVSports.com Game of the Week on Thursday at PSJA Stadium.
Roma (8-0, 3-0) is off to its best start in the program’s 33-year history and one win away from clinching at least a share of the District 16-5A DII championship, a feat that’s never been done by the Gladiators before. PSJA Memorial (7-1, 2-1) suffered its first loss of the year, but traded punch for punch with Roma before going down swinging.
“It was game of the week for a reason. We had two undefeated teams going at it, fighting for a district championship, and we gave the fans their money’s worth on both sides,” Roma head coach Frank Villanueva said. “Hats off to Coach (Will) Littleton. They did a great job. It was real tough mentally, physically, everything. I’m just glad our kids got it together, kept their heads up and came out with the victory in the end.”
After exchanging field goals in the first overtime, Roma running back Ediel Garcia broke free for a 25-yard touchdown run up the middle on the first play of double overtime. He then punched in a successful two-point conversion to make it a 48-40 game.
A holding penalty on PSJA Memorial moved them back to the 35 for their second overtime possession, but three incompletions led to a turnover on downs, securing the victory for Roma.
“It feels amazing. It was a tough game,” Garcia said. “The offense had to trust the defense, defense had to trust the offense. We came out victorious, thank God.”
Garcia led the Gladiators with two rushing touchdowns and opened the game with a 73-yard touchdown catch and run. Quarterback David Galan finished with 242 passing yards, the touchdown pass to Garcia, 90 rushing yards and two scores on the ground. Luis Peña had five catches for 110 yards. Senior running back Isaac Lozano, who entered the game as the Valley’s leading rusher, finished with 117 yards and a fourth quarter touchdown that gave Roma a 37-34 lead with 11:52 remaining.
“This is a historic win for us tonight. It was amazing,” Lozano said. “This one says a lot. We can play with anybody and we’re going for that gold ball.”
Each time Roma made a play, PSJA Memorial found a way to respond.
Quarterback Ryan Reyna finished with 187 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and punched in another score on the ground to go with 71 rushing yards. Robert Morales caught four passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Emi Colunga had 156 rushing yards, 34 receiving yards and scored on a 73-yard touchdown run during the first quarter. Arturo Gomez also hauled in a touchdown pass from Reyna.
Next for Roma is PSJA Southwest (1-6, 0-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Gladiator Arena in Roma.
“Now, we’re making believers out of people who didn’t believe in us,” Villanueva said. “We believed in them all season long. Our coaching staff, our A.D., administration, they’ve done an awesome job and have all believed in us. Now, we’re making believers out of the Valley and that’s all we want — we want our respect.”
PSJA Memorial (7-1, 2-1) moves on to face Mission Veterans (3-4, 1-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.
