Nathan Lambrecht Los Fresnos’ Esia Rivera runs the ball through the PSJA HIgh defense during the second quarter of the top-ranked Falcons’ 45-38 victory over the Bears in their Class 5A Division I bi-district playoff Friday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.

Todd Mavreles
Monitor Staff Writer


PHARR — PSJA High coach Mel Rios was happy with the way his team fought back from multiple double-digit deficits. Los Fresnos coach Scott Ford wasn’t entirely pleased that his team couldn’t put the Bears out of their misery in the second half and allowed almost 500 yards.

Nevertheless, it’s Ford and his undefeated Los Fresnos Falcons who will be moving on to the area round as they survived a wild 45-38 shootout against PSJA in a Class 5A Division I bi-district playoff game Friday at PSJA Stadium.

Los Fresnos (11-0) will play host to La Joya at 7:30 p.m. next Friday in the area round.

"The whole game’s a blur to me," Ford said. "They came out with five in the box and we couldn’t run the ball, which is frustrating. We put it on Jeremy (Springer)’s arm and he made some plays."

Indeed, it’s a nice luxury to have a quarterback such as Springer to lean on when the running game only can muster 99 yards on 27 attempts (Springer rushed 15 times for 16 yards) with starting halfback Luis Campos watching on crutches with a high ankle sprain.

Springer (14-of-23, 285 yards, three touchdowns) made the plays when he needed to, especially his last touchdown, a quick slant to Jorge Mata for 14 yards and a 45-28 Los Fresnos lead with 10:15 remaining. At that point PSJA’s hopes seemed fade.

Not so fast.

The Bears (5-6) put together a 12-play, 80-yard drive that Marco Garcia capped off with a 1-yard plunge, his third touchdown of the game, to pull PSJA within 45-35 with 4:46 to play.

After the Bears’ defense forced a three-and-out, PSJA took possession at its 43 with 3:28 remaining. Los Fresnos’ defense bent (it allowed 483 yards for the game) but stiffened enough to keep the Bears out of the end zone. Miguel Monterrubio was true on a 38-yard field goal with 1:24 remaining to cut the Falcons’ lead to 45-38, but PSJA had just one time out left after burning two in the third quarter.

Monterrubio’s onside kick attempt was just a bit too far out of Mark Garcia’s reach for the Bears to recover.

"This group here was a group of fighters," PSJA coach Mel Rios said. "They wanted more, and they dug in more. They never quit. Not one minute did they ever quit. I’d like to say that we just ran out of time tonight."

For Los Fresnos, The Monitor’s No. 1 team to end the regular season, it could finally exhale and look forward to the area round.

"This is not indicative of our kids, but they bounced back and made enough plays to win," Ford said. "Very fortunate for us we had just enough to hang on and win."

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The first series for each team provided a preview of what was to come, as both quickly scored via the deep pass.

Los Fresnos struck first when Springer scrambled left to avoid the PSJA rush then threw across the middle to Esia Rivera at midfield. Rivera then eluded several Bears, including a poor tackle attempt by Mark Garcia and raced the end zone for a 7-0 Falcons lead.

The Bears tied it on their first play from scrimmage. Mark Sahagun pulled the entire Los Fresnos defense in on a play-action fake and found R.J. Olivarez for an 80-yard TD strike.

After PSJA’s defense stuffed Los Fresnos on a fourth-and-1 at the Bears’ 14, Marco Garcia capped off a 15-play, 86-yard march with a 2-yard TD run to put PSJA up 14-7 with 7:56 to go before halftime. Then the Bears started giving Los Fresnos short fields, never a good idea when Springer is the quarterback.

PSJA got away with it when the Falcons went backwards after starting at the Bears’ 40. But after a Rivera punt return set Los Fresnos at the PSJA 26, Springer beat the defense to the pylon on a 7-yard TD run with 2:44 left in the second for a 21-14 Los Fresnos advantage.

The Bears then rolled the dice, going for it on fourth-and-1 at their own 29 on the next possession. Garcia was stuffed for no gain. Fortunately for PSJA, Los Fresnos couldn’t move the ball, having to settle for Pablo Degollado’s 46-yard field goal and a 24-14 halftime advantage.

Los Fresnos cashed in on its first second-half possession when Springer bolted in from the 8 for a 31-14 Falcons lead. PSJA answered with C.J. Arenas’ 6-yard scoring burst to cut the deficit to 31-21.

PSJA made things very interesting when Garcia finished a 9-play, 88-yard march with a 5-yard blast up the middle, shaving Los Fresnos’ lead to 31-28 at the end of three quarters.

It took the Falcons all of two plays to push the lead back to 10 points as Danny Mendez got lost in the middle of the line then burst through for a 43-yard touchdown run just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter. After PSJA quarterback Mark Sahagun and wingback Juan Palomin botched a handoff, Springer needed just four plays to find Mata on second-and-10 from the PSJA 14 to put the Falcons up 45-28 with 9:11 remaining.

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Todd Mavreles covers District 31-5A for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4451. For this and more local stories visit www.themonitor.com.