score of 18-13.
It was the DeeAndre Torres show, especially in the second half which sealed the deal. Torres scored on the first possession of the second half and even ran a little QB to help the Eagles in crunch time. But the true heroes of this District 29-AAAAAA tilt were the Eagle Defense with two big stops, one on a goal-line stand early and the other, two big time turnovers that put the Burnt Orange & White in a position to clinch a district title.
The night was cool and calm, the crowd was going to be in for a treat, but this game was not for the faint of heart.
The Dragons would strike first after moving the ball down the field in some incredibly unorthodox formations, culminating their opening drive with an incredible play of deception. In a play that seemed doomed from the onset, but you couldn’t have been more wrong, because Quarterback Cade Stott bent over in the pile and inconspicuously handed the ball off to Running Back Anthony Sanchez who carried the ball left and high-tailed it into the end zone for the score. The JP Flores PAT was good, 7-0 Southwest with 6:16 left in the first.
But the Eagles would answer with some trickery of their own with a DeeAndre Torres handoff to Rey Rey Mendoza who threw a picture perfect pass to News Gram Player Of The Week Albert Guevara for twenty yards.Then a perfect pass to Norby Zavala was read perfectly by Damian Lopez. Then the ball popped out of Richie Luna’s hand to give the ball back to the visitors.
The Eagles responded with a strip of their own, but an offsides penalty negated the turnover.
Then Sanchez struck again on a long run before a touchdown saving tackle was made by Armando Monsivais and Sebastian Hernandez, who both were all over the field on defense all night.
Then it came down to a goal-line stand by the Eagle ‘D’ to keep the Dragons off the scoreboard. David Kypuros made a big play on Running Back Tommy Pusateri behind the line of scrimmage. That’s when Hernandez would save the day stopping Running Back Martin Torres for the loss. First down Eagle Pass!
Then it would be DeeAndre Torres who made his presence felt with a two yard run from the eight, then a four yard gain to end the quarter, keeping his feet moving and lunging forward.
A holding call on the Dragons would move the ball to the 24 followed by a Torres run to the 29. A nice pitch and catch to Norby Zavala goes to the 36, first down EP.
Then a pass that seemed to be complete to Jose Riojas was said to have been bobbled as he went out of bounds on a nice roll out right by Luna. The ball would go over on downs.
The Dragons took over and a run by Running Back Sean Ruiz took the ball all the way to the Eagle 38. Then a good throw into the corner of the end zone on the first SW pass of the night was broken up by Ryan Chisum.
Then a big sack by Manny Rodriguez and Armando Monsivais made it another fourth down and a delay of game and an incomplete pass to Ricardo Coronado later, the Eagles had the ball once again.
Two possessions later, QB Damian Lopez would fumble the snap and seemingly be stopped behind the line of scrimmage before miraculously weaving his way out of the backfield and taking the ball all the way to the Eagle 18. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty took the ball to the nine, first and goal for the Dragons.
The it was another two stops for the Eagle Defense, then a holding call moves SW back ten. And then with 2:47 left in the half a corner pattern into the end zone was intercepted by Raul Lechler. First down Eagle Pass!
The Eagles would drive down the field on passes to Riojas on a perfectly led screen by Luna, then a seam pass was incomplete stopping the clock. A holding call on SW moved the ball to the 23 with 1:19 remaining, then a pass intended for Rey Mendoza in the end zone was intercepted by Rosendo Olague to end the half with San Antonio up 7-0.
This game was definitely a game of two halves as the Eagles came out firing with a touchdown run by DeeAndre Torres, followed by a A 27 yard field goal by Riojas would get the Eagles ahead 10-7. Then a touchdown run by Anthony Sanchez to put the Dragons up once again, but Sebastian Hernandez would block the extra point attempt which would be picked up by Joshua Monsivais who would run it back the length of the field for the two-point safety. 13-12 Southwest.
It would take another sustained drive by the Eagle Offense which was almost a Dragon goal-line stand of their own, but a QB sneak by Torres put the Eagles up for good 18-13. The two-point conversion was no good.
The Eagle Defense would give the ball back to the offense who drove late in the game and got a big first down on a jet to Jose Riojas, but Riojas would hook the 30 yard field goal attempt left, giving the ball back to Southwest with just over 2:00 remaining in the game.
But the Eagle Defense was not done and on a complete pass to Olague, Nico Moyeda put the big hit on and Ryan Chisum comes up with the game winning turnover.
The Eagles travel to the Queen City on Friday to meet up with rival Del Rio.
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A.D. Ibarra
-Foster-Veterans Memorial Stadium
The Eagle Pass Eagles, The Cardiac Kids, made it exciting, but they stuck to their guns, played hard defense and managed to win a big come-from-behind football game against a very formidable foe, the Southwest Dragons, by a