Wolverine Woes: PSJA Memorial's cold second half leads to Palmview win
PHARR — The PSJA Memorial Wolverines (1-3, 0-1) dropped their district opener, 25-20, in a tooth-and-nail match against the La Joya Palmview Lobos (2-2, 1-0) on Friday.
The Green Machine now tacks on a two-game losing streak as district play in 16-5A DII starts a bit earlier compared to other Valley teams.
After a sparring of drives, it was the Lobos to tack on some points on the board first. A little more than four minutes to go, Ayden Ramirez drummed his feet — with some Wolverines trying to drag him down — but was able to get the 10-yard touchdown for the 6-0 lead.
Palmview tried to catch the Wolverines off guard by going for two but it was an incomplete pass.
On the responding drive, junior quarterback Joshua Bautista turned on the jets with a 40-yard dash to the Lobos' 31-yard line. With momentum on their side and a few more plays later, Bautista earned his first rushing touchdown of the game off a 4-yard quarterback keep.
With the field goal, Wolverines led 7-6 after the first.
PSJA Memorial's did a solid job at keeping the Lobos off the board. More so, the Wolverines' offense was making some gutsy calls as they were 66% (2/3) on fourth-down conversions.
With a little less than two minutes to go in the half, PSJA Memorial found themselves at the 3-yard line in which Onesimo Perez hammered it in to make it 14-6 going into the break.
The second half started to show some cold sweat signs from PSJA Memorial as they went a four and out. To add to the frustration, PSJA Memorial had a botched punt from their own 14-yard line due to a bad snap and that led to Palmview setting up shop in the red zone.
From the 16-yard line and a few plays later, quarterback Edgar Villalpando was able to punch it in for the 1-yard quarterback keep.
After another failed 2-point conversion, it was 14-12, Wolverines leading.
PSJA Memorial had another dud of an offensive drive and although Palmview marched it down the field, Anthony Campa had a crucial interception to get his squad the ball once more.
Bautista was quick to respond as the first play of the subsequent drive led to a 40-yard rush. A few plays later at the 1-yard line, he was able to get his second rushing touchdown of the game.
After a missed extra point, it was 20-12 at the end of the third.
The fourth quarter had Palmview's Adrian Rivas getting a 60-yard touchdown run and for the third time in the game, the Lobos went for two, but failed on the conversion.
It was 20-18 with about 9:54 left in the game.
Deep in the quarter, the Lobos made a gutsy fourth and short call on their own 42 but capitalized on it.
It paid off as Villalpando slipped down the middle and dashed his way for a 42-yard touchdown. With the field goal it was 25-20, Palmview leading.
Wolverines did have a couple of chances on some drives to try to score but were unable to.
PSJA Memorial did have the ball with less than two minutes left and were looking to advance, but Palmview's Gustavo Garza got a sack to seal the deal.
The Wolverines look to bounce back against Donna North on Oct. 2. Palmview looks to host the Mission Eagles on Friday.