By: Jonathan Salinas

The PSJA North Raiders rolled into McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium with a chip on their shoulder; they hadn’t won on the road. And, standing in their way, were district foe McAllen Memorial Mustangs who were coming off a close win over sister school Nikki Rowe which put them at 3-1 in district play.

However, the Raiders were set on turning their luck around.

After limiting the explosive Mustangs’ running game to only 55 rushing yards in the second half, North’s Head Coach Bruce Bush joked and credited their 30-21 victory to their change in uniform by saying: “It was the black pants.”

It was the first time they had worn black pants and clinched a victory outside of PSJA Stadium.

“It makes a big victory tonight,” Bush said. “This was a big step for us. Two weeks in a row we’ve knocked off a district leader. We’re battling. This is the hunt for October for us because we’re open the last week so the rest of our season is going to be pretty much in front of us.”

Both teams were exchanging scores early and were relentless in establishing the ground game. Mustangs’ Trevor Speights set the tone for the blue and gold as he rushed for 121 yards (175 total) with one touchdown in the first half while the Raiders were led by Hakeem Fontil (91) and Caleb Silva (49).

The first strike, though, came from special teams. After failing to convert on third-and-five, the Raiders were forced to punt to Aaron Garcia who slipped through several arm tackles and took it 55 yards to put the ‘Stangs up 7-0 early in the first. In less than two minutes, the Raiders answered with a long run of their own with Fontil taking it 63 yards to even the score 7-7.

Late in the second, both offenses were dominating and seemed to be running the ball at will until a turnover shifted the momentum for good. On second-and-seven, Speights took a toss to the left but couldn’t find a handle on the ball which left Nick Romero in perfect position to come up with the recovery for the Raiders near midfield.

“Anytime you turn the football over in a big ball game it’s not good,” Mustangs head coach Bill Littleton said. “Especially in a close game; you can’t turn the football over.”

The Raiders would go on to score on an 11 yard rush by Silva to capture their first lead of the game, 21-14 with a little over three minutes remaining in the half. The Mustangs were plagued by yet another fumble shortly after receiver Michael Hinojosa coughed up the football at their own 45 yard line with 36 ticks remaining in the half. Even though the Raiders were unable to punch it in before the buzzer, the damage was already done. The Mustangs were forced to punt in two of their three possessions in the final two quarters as they started both series’ with negative plays.

The Raiders ground and pound, on the other hand, were methodically wearing down the Mustangs defensive front as they carried the ball 29 times and average 5.5 yards per carry. Even junior fullback Joey Estrada, who had been out of the line-up since the season opener due to injuries, contributed his fair share. Estrada helped chew valuable time off the clock as he was put in the backfield during the fourth quarter. He carried the ball five times for 24 yards and converted on two fourth-and-short situations to keep the ball out of the Mustangs hands. The drive, and the Mustangs hope for a comeback, ended with a six yard rushing touchdown by Edgar Escaname with 1:37 remaining.

“He’s a power runner,” Bush said of Estrada. “We just wanted to power it and get those first downs. He was the difference in the game. He made a big difference getting those fourth downs. We need to get him in the game more.”

The PSJA Raiders look to continue their success as they head home to square off with in-city rival PSJA Memorial while the McAllen Memorial Mustangs visit the Weslaco East Wildcats.