La Feria prevails over Bearkats

DANNY RAMIREZ
Valley Morning Star

LA FERIA — Junior Felipe Guajardo was probably the smallest player on the field Friday night, but the 5-foot-6 kicker was standing tallest after hitting the game-winning, 40-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in the game to beat Raymondville 18-15.

"I was thinking we’ve got the game," Guajardo said as the ball barely cleared the uprights for the game-winner.

"Just keep your head and put it through the uprights," was what Guajardo was thinking as he lined up to kick the ball. "It was an all-team effort. I feel great. It was a great team win and it was one of our biggest games in district." The victory improves La Feria to 3-0 in District 32-3A, 5-1 overall. The Raymondville Bearkats fall to 2-1, 4-2. "I knew it was in," La Feria head coach Robert Valdez said. "I mean, I have confidence in my boys and I’ve been trying to drill them to believe in themselves. And they came through and they do believe in themselves. "I’m real proud of the whole team and the city of La Feria," Valdez added. While the score might not show it, the Lions pretty much dominated the game. La Feria outgained Raymondville 333 total yards to 173.

Star photo by Ric Vasquez Ramondville running back Noe Zambrano is upended by La Feria defensive tackle Roger Wisdom

La Feria’s running game was tough to stop as running back Enrique Briones gained 140 yards on 22 carries. Briones’ teammate in the backfield, Hugo Bernal, was close to 100 yards rushing, running for 97 on 14 carries with a 40-yard touchdown run.

Guajardo kicked off to open the game and the coverage was able to pin Raymondville on its own 14-yard line.

Raymondville was unable to get a first down and lost five yards on a penalty. On fourth down, the ball went over punter Juan Sosa’s head for a safety and La Feria was staked to a 2-0 lead.

The special teams came through again for the La Feria.

On the ensuing kickoff, Bernal caught the ball at the La Feria 20-yard line and ran it back all the way to the Raymondville 48. From there, three players later, Bernal scored on an off tackle, 40-yard run with 8:38 left in the first quarter.

The PAT was missed by Guajardo, but La Feria led 8-0.

Two possessions later, Raymondville fumbled the ball to La Feria to set up the Lions in great field position.

La Feria linebacker Michael Rodriguez recovered a fumble by fullback Israel Zamora at Raymondville’s own 21-yard line.

The Lions moved the ball all the way to the 3, but the Bearkats defense held. On the 24-yard field goal attempt by Guajardo, Raymondville’s Tommy Gomez came in untouched from the left side and blocked the kick.

That swung the movement to Raymondville as they went 80 yards on 11 plays for the tying score. Key on the drive was a third and 11 on La Feria’s 26, quarterback Roel Garza hit wide out Leroy Zallar with a 23-yard pass that set the team up with a first down on the three.

Garza ran it in for the score. Garza hit Jaime Montemayor with the 2-point conversion pass after the team was hit for a delay of game penalty. That tied up the score at 8-8 with 5:55 left in the second quarter.

With 1:10 left in the quarter, quarterback Gibby Gonzales hit Javier Zuniga with a 64-yard touchdown strike to help the Lions take a 15-8 halftime lead. The defender on the play, Zallar, fell down on the coverage, leaving Zuniga all to himself.

Raymondville tied up the game again with the team’s first possession of the second half. The Bearkats used an 11-play, 93-yard drive capped off by Garza’s 9-yard TD run to tie the game with 4:54 left in the third quarter.

On that drive, Zamora was the feature runner, gaining 60 of the 93 yards.

Two possessions later, La Feria failed to cash in on a 32-yard field goal that was missed wide left with 4:53 left in the game.

The game seemed to be heading to overtime.

The Lions to the ball back with one more time, with 2:56 left on the game, and drove from its own 43 yard line all the way to the Raymondville 23. That set up the game-winning field goal with 22 second left in the game.