BY CLAIRE CRUZ |
WESLACO — Friday the 13th might be an unlucky day for some people, but not for the Harlingen Cardinals.
Despite another sluggish start, the Red Birds improved to 3-0 in District 32-6A with a 24-7 victory over the Weslaco Panthers.
“You’ve got to give (Weslaco) a lot of credit,” Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez said. “They were doing a lot of great things defensively, but it’s a tale of two tapes. We’re becoming a second half team, but we need to find a way to mix it up and be able to play four quarters.”
The Panthers got on the board first with a 57-yard touchdown run from senior Matthew De Santiago. The running back was an absolute workhorse all night, carrying the ball over 30 times and rushing for 228 yards—158 of which came in the first half.
“We felt like we needed to establish the run… and Matthew and the rest of the offense did a great job responding,” Weslaco head coach Michael Salinas said. “Matthew’s a great kid, he’s a blue-collar kid and comes to work every day and today that paid off for him.”
The Cardinals quickly answered the Panthers’ score with a 33-yard field goal courtesy of sophomore kicker Jacob Garza. With 20 seconds remaining before halftime, senior quarterback Daniel Ramirez hit junior receiver Joe Reyna on a 25-yard touchdown pass to give Harlingen the lead heading into the locker room.
Ramirez and Reyna connected again late in the third quarter on a 48-yard touchdown pass after Weslaco fumbled the hold on a field goal attempt. In the fourth, sophomore Jaime Galvan made a great touchdown catch deep in the end zone on a ball that was tipped twice before he came down with it.
Ramirez turned in a solid performance against a strong, blitz-heavy Weslaco defense. He completed 15 of 23 passes and threw for 240 yards.
“Daniel’s confident and poised in the pocket, I’m super proud of what he did,” Gomez said. “He’s a senior, he’s a proven warrior and he’s definitely our captain.”
Weslaco had several opportunities to make the game more competitive, but self-inflicted mistakes such as four mishandled snaps and too many penalties ultimately cost the Panthers a chance at their first district win.
“We had a couple of drives that just stalled on us, we lost some momentum and they made a few more plays than we did,” Salinas said. “I don’t think the score is indicative of how our defense played. I’m really proud of their effort. The message to our kids is they’re closer than they think and we just have to keep getting better.”
