SANTA ROSA — The Santa Rosa Warriors suffered a heartbreaking loss Friday night at home and remained winless in District 16-3A Division II.
The Warrriors built a 14-0 first-half lead against Hebbronville but could not hold it. Santa Rosa wound up losing 20-14 to the Longhorns in overtime.
Hebbronville trailed 14-7 at halftime and tied the score at 14 with 3:57 to go in regulation before missing a potential game-winning 38-yard field-goal attempt with four seconds left that likely would have won it without extra time.
Regardless, the game went to OT with the score knotted at 14, and the Warriors came out on offense first. But they lost a fumble on a pass reception on only their second play, which gave the Longhorns a chance to win.
On Hebbronville’s fifth play of OT, Longhorns running back Eli Serna burst up the middle and into the end zone from 8 yards out to give the visitors an unlikely victory just when it appeared earlier the Warriors would be celebrating a victory.
“This (win) feels very good,” Hebbronville coach R.J. Montalvo said. “We’ve been in a three-game slump, so we needed it. I’m just proud of our players for coming down here to the Valley and battling to come back from a 14-point deficit. They fought hard and showed a lot of character.
“We made some adjustments at halftime (and that helped),” Montalvo added. “A win like this lifts our spirits greatly. This puts us back in the district race.
“My hat is off to Santa Rosa. They’re a tough ballclub defensively. I believe they’re going to bounce back and do well this season.”
Hebbronville improved to 3-3 on the season and 1-1 in district. Santa Rosa slipped to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in district.
Santa Rosa’s Jose Diaz-Mendez broke loose down the left sideline and went 88 yards to the end zone at the 9:21 mark of the second quarter to make it 7-0 after Juan Corona’s kick.
It became 14-0 with 5:29 showing during the second period when Diaz-Mendez threw a 56-yard scoring pass to Mike Bermea and Corona again added the conversion kick.
The Longhorns scored their first touchdown with 3:38 left before intermission to make it 14-7 when Emilio Acevedo crossed the goal line on a run from 2 yards out. Daniel Rodriguez kicked the extra point.
Santa Rosa was coming off last week’s 7-6 loss at Odem in its district opener. Hebbronville was coming off a 14-9 setback at home against Corpus Christi London.
The Warriors continue district play next Friday at Monte Alto. The Longhorns next play the same night at home against Odem in district.
When the Longhorns and Warriors played last year in Hebbronville, the Longhorns won 33-18.
