Falcons Defeathered: PSJA North powers through Los Fresnos, 41-3

PHARR — “Life is made of so many partings welded together.”

That’s a quote from Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” — a title that’s synonymous with the PSJA North Raiders as they defeated the Los Fresnos Falcons, 41-3, on their home turf here to start their district slate clean. 

Both squads indeed had “great expectations” coming into this game, especially as district play is underway and the two are considered some of the top teams in the Rio Grande Valley. As for the Raiders, the critical dub and showcase from both offense, as well as defense, showed that the squad is indeed “welded together.”

“The kids did a good job,” Head Coach Marcus Kaufmann said after the game. We’ve been trying to figure out, we’ve been moving bodies around, we’re getting kids playing, a lot of kids are playing that didn’t play early in the year.

“So right now, I think we’re pretty much at 95% with the kids. We’re ready to roll now.”

Rolling that they have as the past three games, they’ve outscored opponents 131-41, just the past two games the Raiders racked up 96 points and is averaging close to 350-plus yards a contest. 

In the first quarter and drive, PSJA North drained about seven minutes to climb 74 yards downfield for the first score. Drayden Espinoza got the call on a quarterback sweep to make it 7-0 early in the game. 

That Raider “Blackshirt” defense made themselves known that they weren’t cowering to anyone as a few “oooohs” and “ahhhhhs” were heard from the crowd as Mark Quintanilla laid out Los Fresnos’ Tyler Stachowiak to really set the tone. One of the offensive players to watch for was Evan McChesney but it wasn’t foreign for him to be chased down on every play.

After a stop by the Raiders, the second quarter was similar to the first as Quintanilla — who plays both ways — hammered his way into the end zone on a 8-yard rushing touchdown to make it 13-0 after a blocked extra-point attempt.

Quintanilla wasn’t done there as he earned his second rushing touchdown of the night on a 27-yard scramble to really put the Falcons in a hole. Antwon Estrada got the pitch to the right-hand side on the two-point conversion to punch in 21 points for PSJA North.

The Falcons were able to get on the board by a 35-yard field goal from Gio Barrientos to mend the deficit, 21-3, heading into the break.

Although Kaufmann said that there was a worry about the defense stopping the Falcons, he said that once his Raiders put a halt to any offensive prowess, it helped contribute to the offensive side of things.

“You can be pretty creative on offense when you know you’re going to get the ball back and the other team’s not going to score,” he said.

He was right as you know your defense is doing some pretty remarkable things when the linemen are getting interceptions.

With the Falcons getting the pigskin at the start of the third quarter, PSJA North defensive end, Jacoby Herrera, tipped a pass from McChesney which led to an interception by defensive tackle Rey Martinez.

On the following drive, the Raiders’ Estrada got in on the offensive effort as he rushed in for a 3-yard touchdown to make it 27-0 after a botched extra-point attempt.

At the top of the fourth quarter, Estrada got his number called as he leaped over a Los Fresnos defender for another rushing touchdown on the night for the 34-3 lead.

The final score for the Raiders came off an Espinoza pass to Estrada as he was left wide open on a slant play. He scrambled 72 yards to seal the deal at 41-3.

The Falcons had little to no luck getting any good looks on the offensive end as McChesney would try to find fellow receivers with a hand in his face. Chased wouldn’t be the right term to describe the defense, it was more like swarming.

Defensive coordinator Brett Esparza said that both the offense and defensive counterparts of the Raiders came through in Friday’s win.

“I think both parts kind of met their match and that was Raider football as we expected,” Esparza said.

The past two games the Raiders have really shut down their opponents as they only let up three against the Falcons and 14 against Economedes the week prior. However, Esparza said that in the first several weeks of the season, the players felt they weren’t up to par — especially against teams like Weslaco and the loss to Robert Vela.

“We weren’t meeting our standard, and the kids took that personal, and they’re just trying to get better, and trying to get better, and trying to get better, and we (had) missed the mark,” he said. “Weslaco, I thought we were in control of the game, and we let 20 after the half. Of course, losing to Vela, we were just real sloppy in that game.

“And so the kids have really, really took some ownership in making this what it should be, and what we should be defensively as a group. And tonight was the first step in that direction. I think it’s a really big swing of where we want to be.”

The Valley, even though fans at this point in time are rooting for their respective squads, arguably do have the Raiders as being one of the teams late in the playoffs who are representing the region.

However, in order to be ready for the playoff test, they will face the Harlingen Cardinals (4-2, 1-0) back at PSJA Stadium on Oct. 16 for a district matchup. After all, PSJA North wants another golden district championship ball in their glass case.

“We want to be tested,” Esparza said. “We want the kids to be tested. We think we’re up for that opportunity, and we’re gonna make the most of it.”

Head Coach Kaufmann echoed the same sentiment as the defensive coordinator.

“They’re a very intense ball club,” he said of the Cardinals. “We’re gonna have to match their intensity if we think we have a chance.”