Eagle Pass Winn Mavericks Fall to San Antonio Southwest Dragons 21-7 in Key District 14-5A Football Matchup
By: Ricardo E. Calderón, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
The thundering Eagle Pass C. C. Winn High School Mavericks fell to the San Antonio Southwest High School Dragons 21-7 in a key District 14-5A football matchup on Friday, November 20, 2020 at the Eagle Pass Independent School District Cozel Foster-Veterans Memorial Stadium in Eagle Pass, Texas, sustaining its first loss of the season (2-1).
The game was a defensive battle between two outstanding teams competing for a playoff berth and potentially the District 14-5A championship.
The Mavericks received the opening kickoff of the game and started their first possession led by standout quarterback Jose Padilla. The Dragons defense stifled the potent Mavericks offense and forced a punt after three plays and out.
The visiting Dragons returned the Mavericks punt to the Mavericks 44 yard line to start their first possession of the game. The Dragons pound and ground offense led by quarterback Nathan Gamez engineered a 44 yard touchdown drive behind their workhorse running back Andre Mitchell, culminating in a two yard plunge into the Mavericks end zone by Mitchell and the point after attempt by place kicker Oscar Jimenez was good to take an early 7-0 lead with 3:50 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Mavericks quickly answered the Dragons touchdown on their second possession of the game with a short drive down the Cozel Foster-Veterans Memorial turf resulting in a 12 yard touchdown run by quarterback Jose Padilla behind his offensive line blocking into the Dragons end zone and the extra point booted by place kicker Emanuel Oviedo was good to tie the game at 7-7 each with 1:56 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Dragons second possession in the game led to a 26 yard field goal attempt by place kicker Oscar Jimenez in the second quarter, but the pigskin sailed wide and was no good to continue the game tied at 7-7 each.
After trading possessions, the Mavericks marched down to the Dragons three yard line on their fourth possession, but time expired as the Mavericks had no remaining time outs to stop the clock before the halftime buzzer, missing a potential scoring opportunity and settling for a tied score 7-7 at halftime.
In the third quarter, both teams struggled to score in a defensive battle, but the Dragons managed to engineer an 84 yard touchdown drive late in the quarter culminating with a 16 yard pass from quarterback Nathan Gamez to wide receiver Armando Rodriguez and the extra point was good to give the Dragons a 14-7 lead with just 32 seconds left in the third period.
On their ensuing possession, the Mavericks offense marched from their own 30 yard line to the Dragons 21 yard line but the Dragons defense forced the Mavericks to attempt a 31 yard field goal that missed its mark, keeping the score still at 14-7 in favor of the Dragons.
The game remained close for most of the third and fourth quarters as both teams’ defenses dominated their opposing offenses.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Dragons engineered an 71 yard touchdown drive behind the legs of their running back Jake Friesenhahn who busted loose for a 35 yard run into the Mavericks end zone and the point after attempt was good to extend their lead 21-7 with 1:11 minutes remaining in the game.
The Mavericks last possession of the game ended with the Dragons defense intercepting a Mavericks pass attempt to seal the hard fought win over the valiant Mavericks.
The Mavericks fall to 2-1 in both the season and district standings with two remaining regular season games.
The Mavericks next play against the Río Grande City High School Rattlers on Friday, November 27, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. at Río Grande City, Texas in another pivotal District 14-5A football game.
Roll Mavericks Roll!
