By DANNY RAMIREZ
Valley Morning Star
Raymondville football coach Jim Hite had said all along, if the Bearkats were to go
anywhere in the playoffs, it would take a total team effort.
That’s exactly what the coach got in the Bearkats’ remarkable 36-34 Class 3A Division I regional playoff victory over the Sinton Pirates on Friday.
"It’s another step toward the goals we set for ourselves." said Hite.
It was a remarkable win when you consider the fact that Raymondville fumbled the ball seven times, while only losing it twice. Raymondville still ran for 274 yards of its 313 total.
Raymondville improved to 10-2, the school’s first-ever 10-win season.
The Bearkats got key contributions from the offense, defense and special teams.
And thanks to those players, the Bearkats will now face either Cuero or Carrizo Springs, who were playing late Saturday, in a Region IV quarterfinal playoff game next week.
A shifting, moving defense totally took Sinton (10-2) out of its game in the first quarter.
"We did some things a little bit different than they had seen,’’ said Hite.
The Pirates’ opening possession unded up in a fumble, as quarterback Rick Dyer unloaded a bad pitch that was picked up by Tommy Gomez at Sinton’s 30 and returned to the 1.
From there, sophomore tailback Jaime Montemayor punched it in with 8:55 left in the quarter while Jose Sosa converted on the PAT for the early 7-0 lead.
A 23-yard punt by Sinton set up Raymondville on its own 47 and the Bearkats didn’t take long to hit pay dirt. Quarterback Roel Garza hit senior wide receiver Leroy Zallar for a 35-yard touchdown pass.
Zallar would come up with some huge plays on the night.
Again, on Sinton’s next possession, the Pirates could only manage six yards on three plays by talented tailback Robert Huges. The six-foot, 200-pound senior came into the game with 1,540 rushing yards, averaging 140 a game. After it was all said and done, Raymondville limited Hughes to 117 yards on 27 carries, four of those carries went for touchdowns, though.
As a team, Sinton was averaging 367.8 yards per game, 311.4 of it on the ground. The Pirates were held to 270 total yards, 133 rushing.
"He did run well on us,’’ Hite said. "He kept them in the football game when things were going bad for them. He’s a great player, he can play for anybody."
Another short Sinton gave Raymondville the ball at the Pirates’ 34.
From there, it took Raymondville three plays to score on a three-yard run by Montemayor. The Bearkats then pulled a trick play for the 2-point conversion and a 22-0 lead with 2:37 left in the first quarter.
Little did anyone know that those two points would turn up big at the end.
"We kinda relaxed I think in the second quarter," Hite said. "We thought it was going to be a little bit easy, I guess."
But that was all Raymondville could manage in the first half as Sinton woke up from its daze, thanks to some key defensive stops and a Raymondville fumble.
"They’re a good football team," Hite said about Sinton. "They have a good coaching staff and they overcame those things we were doing. We were in a fight for our lives there at the end."
Sinton’s defense stopped Raymondville and drove all the to the ’Kats 18. On a fourth-and-3, Dyer hit a wide open Jesse Marcum in the end zone but the tight end failed to come up with the catch.
Two players later, Sinton came up with a fumble recovery that put the ball at the Raymondville 8. From there, Hughes scored to cut to lead to 22-8 after Sinton converted on the two-point conversion.
Again, after another strong defensive stance by Sinton, the Pirates went 46 yards capped by a 2-yard TD run by Hughes with 26 seconds left in the half.
That cut the score to 22-15.
The Bearkats offense got things going on their second possession of the third quarter. After another short punt, the Bearkats got the ball at the Pirate 43 and four plays later fullback Israel Zamora followed his blocks downfield for a 32-yard TD run, giving the ’Kats a 29-15 lead.
"It was a straight dive but we ran it off a counter action," said Hite. "The drive in the third quarter was huge, by the fact we were able to take it down against the wind and score."
But Hughes was not about to let his team go down without a fight.
The senior caught the kickoff at the 10 and took it 90 yards for the score, making it 29-22 with 4:06 left in the third.
Sinton’s defense came up with another fumble recovery in Raymondville’s ensuing possession, giving the Pirates the ball at the Bearkats’ 5.
Raymondville made Sinton work for the score, though. After three running plays, Sinton faced a fourth-and-1 at the 1. Hughes barely got across the goal line for the touchdown, but that’s when things got even more interesting.
Rodney Rodriguez, who was good in his two other PATs, was wide right, keeping Sinton from tying the game at 29. Instead, Raymondville held a 29-28 lead with 1:36 left in the third.
Then Raymondville’s option attack took over in the next drive.
The Bearkats used up the remaining time in the third quarter and almost five minutes of the fourth in driving 80 yards, all on the ground, on 14 plays for a touchdown.
Sinton’s defense keyed on Zamora during the drive, but Garza, Montemayor and Hector Vela helped keep the drive going. Vela had the longest run on the drive, busting loose for 30 yards. Zamora capped the drive with a 1-yard plunge on fourth down.
That put Raymondville up 36-28 with 7:34 left in the game.
"When you run the wishbone, you’ve got to take what they give you and that’s what they were giving us," Hite said "We found it, we used it. When they took it away, we went back to the quarterback and halfbacks."
Sinton came right back.
The Pirates drove the ball to the Raymondville 12 from its own 40 before the Bearkats’ defense stopped them on fourth down.
Raymondville linebacker Noe Zambrano came up with a huge sack on that drive. On second down and nine with Sinton at the 12, Zambrano sacked Dyer for a 5-yard loss. On the next play, Dyer overthrew the ball on a pass intended for Emi Alaniz.
Sinton was then faced with a fourth-and-14 from the 17. Dyer threw to Marcum in the end zone but Raymondville’s Rene Valdez broke up the sure TD.
The Bearkats got the ball with 4:09 left in the game and tried to put the game away. Raymondville managed to drive all the way to Sinton’s 43 before being forced to punt.
Sinton, after conserving some time with two timeouts, got the ball at their own 13 with 2:36 left in the game. The Pirates went to the air and moved the ball to the Raymondville 8 with a minute left in the game.
Hughes then ran once for three yards followed by five yards for the score with 38 seconds left, all on sweeps.
Everybody knew what was coming then.
Raymondville called a timeout and prepared for Sinton’s game-tying conversion attempt. And the Bearkats prepared for a Hughes sweep and guessed right, only problem, the play turned out to be a halback option pass.
"Well, you don’t think much about anything except that you’ve got to stop them," Hite said. "And you know, it was a good call, it was a heck of a call. They had been running sweeps on us all night long and the little corner back bit and the kid was open there for a second. That’s a problem often when you’ve got a halfback passing."
The Bearkats had the sweep covered but Hughes lofted the pass to a wide open Alaniz. That’s when Hector Llanes came up with the play of the night, running back and popping Alaniz just as the ball arrived.
The ball popped out and the day was saved.
"I love this team," Llanes said. "It’s (the win) great. It feels so good."
The Pirates were left with the on-side kick, but Zallar recovered it and sealed the game.
"It was a pretty big win," Zallar said. "We haven’t won any games (playoff) in the past and we’ve got two in a row. We’re starting a tradition."