McALLEN — McAllen High had the weight of the world riding on its season finale against crosstown rival McAllen Memorial on Friday night.
A Bulldogs win would secure their spot in the playoffs, bring a city championship to McHi and snap a 12-game losing streak against the Mustangs.
The Bulldogs checked all three off their list with a 27-14 victory over the Mustangs at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium to punch their postseason ticket as the No. 3 seed from District 15-5A DI.
The Bulldogs (5-5, 4-3) finish district play in a three-way tie with McAllen Rowe (6-4, 4-3) and La Joya Palmview (7-3, 4-3), but McHi moves on due to a tiebreaker by point differential along with the Warriors.
“Tonight’s performance was amazing on both sides of the field. A rivalry game — we knew it was going to be tough,” McHi head coach Patrick Shelby said. “The kids get up for this and that’s what makes it so great — McHi and McAllen Memorial. Hats off to Coach (Moses) Patterson and his staff for doing a great job. It meant a lot to these guys and we knew that if we played hard for four quarters of football, we could get the job done and they did that.”
McHi’s rushing attack carried the load offensively. Running backs Jayden Herrera and Zachary Hernandez combined for 145 yards and two touchdowns.
Success on the ground opened the passing attack for quarterback Joaquin Valdez and his plethora of weapons to take advantage.
Valdez threw McHi’s first touchdown of the game on a 17-yard corner route to Max Alvarez to tie the game at 7. During the second quarter and second half, he connected with senior Bryan Alaniz three times for momentum swinging plays. Alaniz brushed off a shoulder injury and high-pointed two balls near the goal line to put McHi in scoring position. One turned into a 3-yard touchdown run by Herrera, and he capped off the other with a 3-yard touchdown reception on a slant.
“Coach always tells us to just go for the ball and whoever wants it more will get it, and I wanted that ball more. I knew that would give us the momentum we needed to keep driving down the field, and I just went and did my thing,” Alaniz said.
McAllen Memorial’s Max Alaniz-Choy and JP Garza accounted for the Mustangs’ two rushing scores.
Memorial started the fourth quarter with a touchdown run by Alaniz-Choy, forced a McHi punt and proceeded to move the ball to the Bulldogs’ 21-yard line. That’s when senior linebacker Diego Avila came up with a huge interception to shut the door on the Mustangs’ hope for a comeback.
“Our D-line did their job, they closed their gaps, squeezed him out, he threw the ball and I was there, and that sealed the game right there,” Avila said. “This feels good, man. All the weight off our shoulders. Everything we wished for, everything we worked for just came into existence.”
McHi will meet Harlingen South (7-3, 5-1) in the bi-district round of the playoffs. Game details are to be determined.
“It was a hard one but we really pulled it off. We’re going to stay focused and we’re not done yet,” Herrera said.
