Mavericks fight, turn in goal line stand;

Late turnover affects 13-7 Del Rio win

A.D. Ibarra

-Foster-Veteran's

 Memorial Stadium

The CC Winn Mavericks and the Del Rio Rams turned in a great opening round District 29-AAAAA football game on Friday where the Rams, before a huge crowd of followers, came away with a razor sharp 13-7 victory.

Early in the game, the Mavericks, who kicked off to the Rams, turned in an impressive goal line stand to keep the Rams at bay, not allowing them to score on their first drive of the game.  The Maverick Defense anchored by linebacker Steven Garcia and sporting a talented crew of Chris Aranda, Victor Miranda, Justin Diaz, Jose Luis Flores, Eric Vasquez, Rene Rodriguez, Alfredo Barragan, Jorge Andrade and complemented by Carlos Cerezo who goes both ways, recorded three big time interceptions to complement the goal line stand, holding off the huge Del Rio offensive line making key stops all night in this game.

The Rams managed to score twice in the first half on the spikes of running back Emilio Villarreal but the second PAT was no good and the Rams had a 13-0 lead late in the first half.

The Mavericks countered with a touchdown of their own on a bootleg by QB Juan Elizondo with time dwindling down in the half to make it 13-7 after the Dante Valdez kick.

Deion Alonso had an amazing punt return which almost resulted in the score which would have catapulted the Mavericks to the victory, but a shoestring tackle by a Ram defender kept him out of the endzone.  

The second half was a true test of wills where neither defense gave in, but it was unfortunate fumble on the last Winn drive with time running out on the clock in the fourth quarter which sealed the deal for the Rams who move to 1-0 in District 29-AAAAA play.

The Mavericks and Head Coach Eric Villaseñor have nothing to hang their helmets about after this great game, but there will be no time to dwell on it as they begin preparations to take on loop-leading Laredo Alexander in two weeks.