Flight School: Falcons take it to the air, cruise over PSJA Bears

PHARR — The Los Fresnos Falcons rallied with a 27-point third quarter to win, 48-13, over the PSJA Bears in a district matchup on Friday.

Los Fresnos, who now have a two-game winning streak, improve to 5-3 on the season, with a 2-1 record in District 32-6A. As for the Bears, this is the fourth loss in a row as they drop to 2-6 overall, and 0-3 in district play.

PSJA looked good in front of their home crowd early in the first as the kickoff return put them in great field position past the halfway mark. With Wildcat packages and shotgun formations, the Bears switched some things up on offense and were able to move down the field.

At the 10-yard line — with the Bears in a T-formation — quarterback Dylan Rodriguez dropped back and floated it to the left corner of the end zone to Jonathan Sauceda for the first blood. A two-point conversion was halted by the Falcons but the Bears led 6-0 with a little over 8 minutes in the first.

Los Fresnos’ quarterback, Evan McChesney, came into this game with 1442 yards passing with 15 touchdown passes and five interceptions on the year. So, the Bears were looking to cut off the secondary to limit any air travel.

McChesney was able to add onto that touchdown column as he connected with wide receiver Enrique “Kito” Guerra on a 40-yard pass where he walked into the endzone untouched. The Falcons gained the lead, 7-6, with some change to go in the first.

It was bad news for the Bears after a fumbled ball on a punt gave the Falcons great field position at PSJA’s 15-yard line. From there, a sweep by Ryan Prepejchal brought the Falcons to the 10-yard line. Then, Tyler Stachowiak was able to punch it in for the score after two plays that called for his number. The Falcons built the lead to 14-6.

The Bears, though, showed some grit and fight in the form of Isaiah Garza as he caught a long ball from Rodriguez with his back against the end zone wall to the Falcons’ 3-yard line for a 58-yard catch. With momentum and morale, Garza punched it in from 5 yards out to make it a 14-13 game.

However, if anyone has ever watched the Falcons, know how savvy and swift their offense can be.

McChesney showed some quick feet as he scrambled and danced from defenders for 26 yards to put the Falcons in great field position. Prepejchal then bolted 50 yards for the score to make it 21-13 going into the break.

The third quarter is where it got kind of ugly for the Bears as the Falcons garnered 27 points.

On just the second play of the first drive, McChesney zipped it down the middle to Prepejchal for a 76-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-13.

There was a question if McChesney was even going to start in the second half after suffering a stinger to his throwing arm. However, the senior said he had to show resilience and help lead his team in the matchup.

“Definitely, you know, I got banged up before the half, but I just had to keep my mind going and get to the next one,” he said after the district dub..

That he did as after the Falcons stopped the Bears’ attempt on offense, the subsequent drive had McChesney zipping it once more over the middle to Prepejchal — who was in stride — once again for the 33-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-13.

The Falcons’ defensive line, particularly Marlon Jones. Jr. and Fernando Ismael Garcia, made it quite difficult for PSJA’s Rodriguez to get anything going on offense and he was found scrambling more often than not.

With a little over 5 minutes of play, Garcia rushed Rodriguez and popped the ball out for Christopher “C.J.” Waldorf picked up the leftovers into the endzone for a 20-yard touchdown to make it 41-13.

Waldorf said that the accountability factor for the defense played a critical role in the molding of the squad.

“Everyone is keeping each other accountable,” he said. “Throughout the entire week, everyone’s yelling at each other, making sure they do the right job.”

The final score for the Falcons came late in the third quarter as Prepejchal got in the passing action as he threw to “Kito” Guerra off a halfback pass to seal it at 48-13.

McChesney threw 11-for-14 on the night with three touchdowns and 244 total yards. The Falcons racked up 465 total yards. As for the Bears, Rodriguez threw 10–for-17 and tacked on 205 yards with one touchdown. Garza led in receiving yards with 106 off of four receptions.

Head Coach David Cantu said that the third quarter was the difference maker for his Falcons.

“It was a great football game,” Cantu said. “We had a great third quarter. Everything kind of went our way, and we took advantage of some of the things,  and as far as formations, it gave us an advantage, but, you know, the third quarter was the difference.”

About three weeks ago, the Falcons dropped only 3 points against a tough PSJA North Raiders squad. However, this game and last week against San Benito, the offense has been in sync as Los Fresnos has put up 111 points in the two games.

“So, there was some soul searching after that (PSJA North game),” Cantu said. There was some self-reflection, but the kids responded fantastic. They played the best game I’ve seen since I’ve been a head coach of six years, last week.”

PSJA will look to bounce back against the Raiders on Friday here in Pharr. As for the Falcons, they have a tough test with Brownsville Veterans Memorial (5-3, 1-2) that same day in Los Fresnos.

“Oh, man, it’s becoming like a little bit of a rivalry game, right?” Cantu said. “They don’t like us, and we don’t really like them too much either. But at the end of the day, it’s execution — none of that (other stuff) matters. It’s who’s gonna play ‘Six Seconds of Hell,’ and not worry about that electronic scoreboard, and just play. But, I put money on my guys.”