Eagle Pass Eagles fall to Edinburg North Cougars 27-20 in Bi-District Championship
By: Ricardo E. Calderon
Copyright 2013 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
Live from Memorial Stadium, Alice, Texas
The visiting Eagle Pass High School Eagles fell for the second consecutive year to the Edinburg North High School Cougars in the UIL Region IV-5A, Division II, Bi-District Championship by the close score of 27-20 at Memorial Stadium in Alice, Texas on Saturday, November 16, 2013.
The Eagle Pass Eagles entered the Bi-District Championship game with a 4-5 overall season record representing District 29-5A while the home standing Edinburg North Cougars came in with an overall season record of 9-1 representing District 30-5A.
The Eagles won the coin toss at the midfield meeting of the team captains immediately before game time and chose to defer to the Cougars possession of the football and elected to receive the football in the second half.
The Edinburg North Cougars received the opening game kick-off from Eagles kicking-specialist Jerry Gonzalez and returned it to the Eagles 30 yard line. The Cougars huge offensive line began opening holes for the swift Cougars running backs tandem of Adrian Alvarez and Matt Whitesides marching down the Memorial Stadium turf when suddenly standout Eagles defensive back DeShawn Franklin intercepted an Alex Guerrero pass intended for wide receiver Michael Cantu at the Eagles 34 yard line with 10:26 remaining in the first quarter, stifling a Cougars potential scoring drive.
The Eagles offense under the leadership of standout quarterback Ty Chisum struggled on its first possession going three and out and having to punt the football, failing to capitalize on DeShawn Franklin’s interception.
The Edinburg North Cougars received the Eagles punt at their own 48 yard line with 8:50 remaining in the first quarter, but a Cougars holding penalty on the punt return pushed the Cougars to their 38 yard line. The Cougars orchestrated a combined ground and air attack drive culminating with a long touchdown pass bomb of 48 yards from quarterback Alex Guerrero to wide receiver Matt Ramirez and the point after attempt by Cougar kicking -specialist Diego Sanchez was good giving the Cougars an early 7-0 lead with 5:30 remaining in the first period, stunning the Eagles secondary and loyal Eagle Nation fans who had traveled 175 miles to support the team.
The Eagles received the ensuing kick-off at their own 35 yard line and started their second possession of the game with 5:22 left in the first stanza. Edinburg North Cougars safety Joey Benitez swiped a Ty Chisum pass giving the Cougars excellent field position at the Eagles 38 yard line with 4:27 remaining in the first quarter.
The Cougars took over their third possession of the game at the Eagles 38 yard line and the stout Eagles defense caused a fourth down and four yards to go for the Cougars when standout Eagles defensive back Jesse Mata intercepted an Alex Guerrero pass at the Eagles 24 yard line with 2:24 left in the first period, denying the Cougars a potential scoring drive.
The Eagles started their third possession at their 24 yard line but the stingy Cougars defense forced the Eagles to go three and out and punt the football to the Cougars with 1:36 remaining in the first quarter. The Cougars punt return man had an excellent run back giving the Cougars great field position at the Eagles 23 yard line. The Cougars ground attack led by standout running back Adrian Alvarez scored on a 23 yard touchdown run and the point after attempt was no good, giving the Cougars a 13-0 lead which they would never relinquish with 1:14 remaining in the first quarter.
The Eagles received the ensuing kick-off at their own 15 yard line with 1:09 left in the first quarter. The Eagles offensive line began opening holes for quarterback Ty Chisum and running back Mark Venegas to run through marching down the Memorial Stadium turf to the Cougars 32 yard line but the Cougars defense forced the Eagles to punt with 9:15 left in the second quarter.
The Cougars started their fourth possession at their own 14 yard line with 9:10 remaining in the second quarter. The Cougars offense started marching down the field when they fumbled the football and standout Eagles safety Kevin Chisum recovered the football at the Cougars 33 yard line with 7:23 remaining in the second period, giving excellent field position to the Eagles offense.
The Eagles started their fifth possession of the game at the Cougars 33 yard line and began driving down the field when Cougars safety Joey Benitez intercepted a Ty Chisum pass intended for R.J. Ruiz at the Cougars one yard line but the Eagles caught a lucky break as the Cougars were penalized for defensive holding, nullifying the Benitez interception and giving the Eagles the football at the Cougars 11 yard line. The Eagles brain trust called a time out with 5:41 left in the second quarter and called a special play with quarterback Ty Chisum throwing an 11 yard touchdown pass to his older brother, Kevin Chisum, all alone in the end zone with 5:36 left on the second stanza clock and the point after attempt by Eagles kicker Jerry Gonzalez was no good, narrowing the score 13-6 in favor of the Cougars.
The Cougars received the ensuing kick-off at their own 30 yard line and engineered a patented combined ground and air 70 yard touchdown drive culminating with a 20 yard touchdown keeper by quarterback Alex Guerrero and the point after attempt by Cougar kicker Diego Sanchez was good to give the Cougars a 20-6 lead with 1:25 remaining in the second quarter.
The Eagles received their sixth possession of the game at their own 20 yard line with 1:20 left before halftime. The Eagles were unable to score and went into halftime trailing 20-7.
The estimated 2,000 persons in attendance at the game were entertained at halftime by the majestic Eagle Pass High School Diamond Dance Team and the Mighty Eagles Marching Band as well as the Edinburg North Golden Spurs Dance Team and the Fighting Cougars Marching Band, While both teams’ bands performed, the Eagles coaching staff made adjustments with their players during halftime.
The Eagles took the second half opening kick-off at their own 25 yard line. The Eagles offense gained a first down but the stout Cougars defense forced the Eagles to punt, Eagle Ty Chisum’s punt slipped-off his foot giving the Cougars excellent field position at the Eagles 46 yard line with 9:37 remaining in the third quarter. The Cougars began driving down the field but Eagles standout safety Kevin Chisum anticipated perfectly an Alex Guerrero pass and stepped in front of it and returned the interception for a 55 yard touchdown with 8:41 remaining in the third period and Eagles kicking-specialist Jerry Gonzalez’s extra point was good, narrowing the score to 20-13 in favor of the Cougars and re-invigorating the Eagles and their loyal Eagle Nation fans in attendance at the game.
The Cougars received the ensuing kick-off at their 43 yard line with 8:32 left in the third quarter. The Cougars drove down to the Eagles 43 yard line but the swarming Eagles defense sacked Cougar quarterback Alex Guerrero for a loss, forcing the Cougars to punt the football to the Eagles with 6:10 remaining in the third stanza.
The Eagles received their eighth possession of the game deep in their own territory at the 12 yard line but an Eagle penalty pushed them back to the six yard line with 6:10 left in the third quarter. The Cougars defense stopped the Eagles offense from driving, forcing the Eagles to punt the football to the Cougars from the Eagles nine yard line with 5;30 left in the third period.
The Cougars took excellent field position on their seventh possession at the Eagles 36 yard line with 5:12 remaining in the third stanza. On the ensuing play, standout Cougars running back Matt Whitesides rushed for 33 yards down to the Eagles three yard line. The Cougars offensive coordinator rewarded Whitesides by calling his number again resulting in a three yard touchdown run by Matt Whitesides and Cougars kicker Diego Sanchez’s point after attempt was good to extend the Cougars lead 27-13 with 4:20 remaining in the third quarter.
In their next possession (9th), the Eagles took the ensuing kick-off at their own 25 yard line with 4:15 left in the third period. The Eagles offense engineered a patented ground and air attack 75 yards touchdown drive on the natural grass turf culminating in an 11 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ty Chisum to wide receiver Kevin Chisum and Eagles kicker Jerry Gonzalez’s point after attempt was good, narrowing the score 27-20 in favor of the Cougars with 1:35 remaining in the third quarter and re-energizing the mighty Eagles.
The Cougars took the ensuing kick-off at their own nine yard line after the Cougar kick returner muffed the football and the flying Eagles kicking team covered him like a blanket deep in Cougar territory with 1:28 remaining in the third quarter. The Cougars offense drove down the Memorial Stadium turf keeping possession of the football for more than nine minutes culminating on a missed Cougar field goal attempt of 29 yards by Cougar kicker Diego Sanchez, but the Eagles took over the football at their own 19 yard line with only 4:24 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The mighty Eagles took their tenth possession of the game at their 19 yard line with the goal to drive down the field and score the tying touchdown and were well on their way when disaster struck as an Eagles wide receiver fumbled the football after a pass reception and the opportunistic Cougars pounced on the football recovering it at the Eagles 40 yard line with 2:42 left in the game.
The Cougars scored a touchdown on a 25 yard run by running back Adrian Alvarez but a Cougar penalty for chop blocking nullified the Alvarez touchdown, keeping the score 27-20 with 19 seconds remaining as the Eagles took over the football on downs at their own 22 yard line.
The Eagles eleventh and final possession of the game resulted in a desperate Hail Mary pass by quarterback Ty Chisum which was intercepted by Cougars safety Joey Benitez, whom returned it to the Eagles 17 yard line with two seconds remaining in the game. The Cougars ran out the clock to preserve a hard fought win over the valiant and never say die Eagles, who played their hearts out but it was not meant to be on this cool, breezy November evening in South Texas.
The Eagle Pass Eagles finish the 2013 football season with an overall 4-6 record overall under the leadership of Head Football Coach Tom Gonzalez. The Edinburg North Cougars improve to 10-1 overall in the season and advance to the Area Championship next week against the Harlingen South High School Hawks, who defeated the Weslaco East High School Wildcats 42-21.
The Eagle Pass Business Journal congratulates the Eagle Pass Eagles on their great 2013 season and wishes them the best in their future endeavors.
