Mark Venegas on move vs Panthers EAGLE PASS EAGLES FOOTBALL GRIDIRON NEWS Eagles barely edged by District co-leader United South 34 to 24 B
Mark Venegas on move vs Panthers
EAGLE PASS EAGLES FOOTBALL GRIDIRON NEWS
Eagles barely edged by
District co-leader United South 34 to 24
By: Conrado Perez, Jr. – Eagle Pass Sports Central
“Your best and only source for local sports news in Eagle Pass”
The Eagle Pass Eagles varsity football team under the tutelage of head football coach Tom Gonzalez riding a two district game winning streak resumed their district battles on Friday, October 14, 2016 when they hosted none other than the District 29-6A co-leading Laredo United South Panthers who were coming off a huge victory over the pre-season heavily favorite Laredo United Longhorns this past Friday by the final score of 45 to 33. The visiting United South Panthers ventured into Friday night’s game sporting an overall season record of 5-1 and an unblemished district mark of 3-0. The home standing Eagle Pass Eagles came in with an overall season record of 4-2 and a district record of 2-1. The home standing Eagle Pass Eagles gave the supposedly heavy favorite District co-leading Panthers quite a scare and nearly pulled off a major upset losing by only 10 points in a real hard hitting contest
After the Eagles defense forced the United South Panthers to punt on their first offensive series. The Eagles offense took over at their own one yard line. The Eagles immediately unleashed their patented powerful running game with their one-two punch of the speedster tailback Mark Venegas and their bruising quarterback Ricky Medina. The Eagles mounted an impressive 8-play 99 yard scoring drive running down the throat of the Panthers defense. The drive was capped off with a 33 yard keeper by starting signal caller Ricky Medina with 6:43 showing on the first quarter clock. Jose Riojas tacked on the point after to give the Eagles a 7 to 0 lead over the stunned Panthers.
The visiting Panthers countered with a game tying 80 yard scoring drive predominately with their short passing game but the drive culminated with a 15 yard touchdown strike from quarterback Ismael Contreras to his favorite target wide receiver Julian Zertuche with 2:42 left in the opening period. Johan Portales added the game tying point after conversion to knot up the score at 7 all.
After an excellent return on the ensuing kickoff the Eagles offense took over at the United South 49 yard line. The Eagles offense went back to show casing their running game mounting what sure seemed to be a potential go ahead touchdown driving down to the United South 18 where unfortunately the drive came to a halt as Ricky Medina’s pass into the end zone was intercepted by defensive back Robert Velasquez to dodge a serious threat by the Eagles.
Having dodged a bullet the Panthers took a big sigh of relief as they simply just could not handle the Eagles ground attack at all. The Panthers took over at their own 20 yard line proceeded to mount another 80 yard scoring drive capped off with a 35 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Edgar Cavazos with 8:29 showing on the second quarter clock, Johan Portales converted the point after to give the Panthers a 14 to 7 lead over the Eagles.
The proud Eagles stormed right back with a 75 yard scoring drive culminating with a 26 yard field goal by placekicker Jose Riojas with 4:29 left in the first half to narrow the Eagles deficit to 14 to 10.
United South then closed out the scoring in the first half with a 40 yard field goal by placekicker Johan Portales with only one second let on the clock to give the Panthers a slim 17 to 10 lead at the end of the first half.
The home standing Eagle Pass Eagles received the second half kickoff but after a minimal yards gained were forced to punt. After a very short punt the Panthers took over at the Eagle Pass 43 yard line. It took just one play from scrimmage for the Panthers to extend their lead as stellar running back Jesus Posada who had been held to only 73 yards rushing in the first half by the Eagles defense galloped 43 yards to pay dirt with 9:07 remaining in the third quarter. Johan Portales split the uprights with the point after to give the Panthers a 24 to 10 lead in this game.
Supported by the partisan Legion of Loyal Eagles fans the Eagles immediately answered with a 73 yard scoring drive capped of with a 22 yard blast into the end zone by quarterback Ricky Medina with 5:27 showing in the third quarter clock, Jose Riojas added to point after to narrow the Eagles deficit to 24 to 17.
The Eagles then stunned the visiting district co-leading Panthers and everyone else in attendance as the Eagles who no matter what will never back down from a challenge orchestrated an 87 yard game tying scoring drive culminating with an 8 yard touchdown run by tailback Mark Venegas with 1:33 left in the third quarter. Jose Riojas remained perfect in the point after attempt department as he cleared the crossbar with the game tying point after making the score 24 all.
Early in the fourth quarter the Panthers regained the lead with an 8 play 60 yard scoring drive capped off with a four yard plunge into the end zone by tailback Jesus Posada. Johan Portales padded the Panthers lead to 31 to 24 with the point after. Late in the game with only 42 seconds left on the clock, the Panthers added a 37 yard field goal by Johan Portales giving the Panthers a 34 to 24 lead over the gallant Eagles.
The Eagles offense had one final chance as they drove down to the United South 12 yard line where on the game’s next to the last play saw the Eagle launch a pass towards the end zone that ricochet off the defensive back’s hands and into and out of a diving Ricky Reyes hands enabling the Laredo United South Panthers to escape with the narrow 34 to 24 victory over a valiant Eagle Pass Eagles that put forth a truly outstanding effort on this night and have nothing to be ashamed of at all.
The Eagles will now journey to Laredo, Texas next Saturday, October 22, 2016 to face off against the Laredo United Longhorns who are currently riding a two district game losing streak in a key 7:00 PM encounter at the United ISD Student Activity Center.
OFFICIAL TEAM STATS
EAGLES OPPONENT
First Downs 12 15
Att./ Yds. Rushing 47/310 32/261
Yards Passing 101 164
Total Yards 411 425
Pass att./comp./int’s 6/17/3 17/28/2
Return Yards 0 0
Punts /Avg. 4/35.2 4/43.7
Fumbles/Lost 1/1 2/0
Penalties/Yards 2/25 6/55
OFFICIAL INDIVIDUAL OFFENSIVE STATS: PASSING:
#3 Brian Palacios no comp. 1 att. 1 int.
#4 Rick Medina 4 comp. 11 att. 1 int. 71 yds.
#10 Ricardo Luna 2 comp. 5 att. 1 int. 30 yds.
RUSHING:.
#3 Brian Palacios 3 att. -3 yds.
#4 Ricky Medina 20 att. 257 yds. 2 TD’s
#7 Mark Venegas 18 att. 36 yds. 1TD
#9 Jose Riojas 6 att. 15 yds.
#10 Ricardo Luna 1 att. 2 yds.
RECEIVING:
#9 Jose Riojas 3 rec. 19 yds..
#13 Ricky Reyes 3 rec. 82 yds.
OFFICIAL INDIVIDUAL DEFENSIVE STATS:
#25 David KYpuros 11 tackles 4 assists 2 tackles for a loss 1 QB Sack 1 caused
Fumble 2 Big Hits Co-Defensive Player of the Week
#8 Dee Andre Torres 8 tackles 8 assists 1 Big Hit Co-Defensive Player of the Week
#55 Alek Alvarez 5 tackles 7 assists 1 tackle for a loss 1 Big Hit
#5 Alan Morales 5 tackles 3 assists
#12 Armando Martinez 5 tackles 2 assists 1 interception
#40 Brandon Garza 5 tackles 2 assists
#1 Kevin Garcia 4 tackles 4 assists 1 interception
#52 Angel Miranda 4 tackles 1 assist 1 tackle for a loss
#88 Haran Rodriguez 3 tackles 1 assist 1 tackle for a loss
#36 Eric Rodriguez 2 tackles 1 assist 1 caused fumble
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