PHARR — The Brownsville Veterans Chargers are used to being the underdogs. Each of the past two seasons they’ve started the year with 2-2 records, leading to few outside of their inner circle believing in the team.
This year started out the same, with the Chargers opening the year at No. 2 in the RGVSports.com 5A/6A Top 10 poll before dropping out altogether following a 2-2 start once again.
The Chargers sent out a reminder to the entire Valley on Friday, however, taking down No. 3 PSJA High 35-23 on the road during a non-district contest at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.
“Last year and the year before we lost two games to start the season also,” Brownsville Veterans quarterback Storm Montoya said. “This year, we’re kind of repeating the same steps, losing to St. Joe’s and Laredo (Alexander). We’re not going to let that become a setback. We’re just going to come back stronger. Next week we got Sharyland Pioneer. We’re just going to keep playing smashmouth football.”
Like most games, the Chargers came into Friday’s contest looking to set the tone with a physical playstyle on both sides of the ball.
Brownsville Veterans did just that, marching 73 yards down the field on their opening drive to take a 7-0 advantage five minutes into the game.
The drive was only the beginning for the Chargers, controlling the time of possession during the opening half with over 200 yards and two touchdowns on the ground during the first two quarters.
“The gameplan was we wanted to keep their offense off the field because they’re so explosive,” Brownsville Veterans offensive coordinator Mike Evans said. “We wanted to sustain some drives. We’ve scored well this year, but it’s been on explosive drives. We sustained some good drives today. That was the big difference.”
The defense matched the offense’s intensity during the opening half, with defensive back Eroz Pineda setting the tone with a huge hit to force an incompletion on fourth down and give the ball back to his offense.
The Chargers offense capitalized on the turnover on downs, scoring just a few plays later on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Montoya to Marc Samano to take a 21-10 lead into the break.
“I saw the receiver coming in from the corner of my eye,” Pineda said. “I saw the quarterback looking right at him. I knew I had to go in and do what I had to do.”
The Bears offense started finding its stride during the second half, outgaining the Chargers 287-126 over the final two quarters.
Their offensive explosion led to a pair of touchdowns during the second half, including a one-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Myles Lopez to tight end Alek Flores to make it 28-23 with 2:31 remaining.
The Chargers were unphased by the score, however, with fullback Alvin Trevillion taking the first play of the ensuing drive 50 yards to the end zone and Pineda coming up with his second interception of the night on the following drive to seal their victory.
“We came in and wanted to just play back,” Brownsville Veterans defensive coordinator Lawrence Ellison said. “We gave up a couple of intermediate throws, but I think we got that corrected. … Our kids executed the gameplan. We controlled the run. If they broke one, we just played the next play. The kids never got down or discouraged. They never got scared. They just played. You could see it in their eyes. They were ready to play.”
Trevillion led all rushers with 10 carries for 113 yards and one touchdown. Fullback Cesar Belmontes added 13 carries for 75 yards and two scores, while quarterback Storm Montoya rushed for 77 yards and one touchdown, also adding a 50-yard touchdown pass.
Lopez led the Bears offense with 355 yards and one touchdown through the air. Senior Ryan Vallejo led all receivers with 11 catches for 97 yards, also adding one carry for a touchdown.
The Bears head into a bye week following the loss, looking to regroup before starting district play at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 against Edinburg High at Richard R. Flores Stadium in Edinburg.
The Chargers (3-2) will look to make it two straight wins to close out non-district play, taking on Sharyland Pioneer in their non-district finale at 7 p.m. next Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.
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