Bears brought down: Mercedes' 20-point half propels them to win in season opener

PHARR — High school football is officially back as the Mercedes Tigers visited the PSJA Bears over here at PSJA Stadium on Thursday.

The visiting Tigers (1-0) took it to PSJA (0-1) as they head back home with a 20-10 victory.

The loss to the Tigers is the first defeat in PSJA Head Coach Horacio Garza's first game as he took the reins of the squad this year. He was previously with PSJA North as the offensive coordinator.

It was a tale of two halves as each half told a different story for both Rio Grande Valley schools.

The first half showed a resilient and tough PSJA squad as they sparred drives with Mercedes. However neither squad was really able to get their groove going.

The Bears had some gutsy calls in the first quarter as they went for it on fourth two in the same drive. Consequently, the second time around, quarterback Gael Zambrano threw his first pick of the game that was intercepted by Mercedes' Frankie Salinas.

Salinas, who also plays receiver, on the subsequent offensive drive broke away on a 78-yard pass completion from Louis Rincon. Mercedes had the chance to draw blood but were stopped on a fourth and nine by the Bears' defense.

Before the break, Yahir Parra nailed a 32-yard field goal to give the Bears a 3-0 lead.

The Tigers looked depleted a bit in the first half but that changed quite quickly in the third quarter.

In fact, the cold opening turned into a hot third as Rincon completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Robbie Sanchez on the right side of the field. Mercedes was able to march down the field in about 2:17 of game time.

It didn't stop there, though.

As the Tigers defense shut PSJA on their drive, Rincon  — in the shotgun formation — completed a 21-yard touchdown to Salinas for his second touchdown. Mercedes, in the first half found some yardage by exposing the secondary of PSJA, it wasn't until the second half where they really put salt on the wound.

Zambrano was able to bring some life to PSJA as he completed a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Dallas.

The thoughts of a comeback were halted by the Tigers as Noah Buenrostro's 19th carry of the game resulted in him earning a touchdown to seal the deal for his squad.

Head Coach Roger Adame said that the second half really pushed his team forward to take the game over and ultimately, gain the victory.

"We went into the locker room, and what we have, with a veteran staff, with veteran guys out there, we don't panic," Adame said. "... That's the greatest thing right there on the road against a 6A (team). It's a great feeling."

The Tigers look to extend their win streak to two as they will host the Edcouch-Elsa Yellow Jackets on Sept. 4 in Mercedes.

Coach Garza and the Bears will look to bounce back against Sharyland Pioneer over in Mission that same day.