Eagles Shutout Mavericks in 19th Rivalry Meeting, Face San Antonio Taft Next
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2025
The highly anticipated, storied 19th Rivalry Meeting between the Eagle Pass C. C. Winn High School Mavericks and Eagle Pass High School Eagles football game resulted in the Eagles self-proclaimed Landshark Defense shutting out the potent Mavericks offense to a 47-0 victory, remaining undefeated in the intracity rivalry (19-0).
The Eagles won the pre-game coin toss and chose to receive the opening kickoff. In their opening drive of the game, the talented Eagles self-proclaimed War Eagle offense led by quarterback Xavier Barrera marched 70 yards for the first score with running back Luis Flores rumbling for a 19 yards touchdown run with 8:55 minutes remaining in the first quarter, and place kicker Ivan Cruz split the uprights for the extra point to make it Eagles 7-0.
The Mavericks offense started their first possession of the game with good field position at the Eagles 49 yard line, but the staunch Eagles defense stymied the Mavericks offense, forcing them to punt.
On their second possession, the Eagles started deep in their own territory at the seven yard line, but quickly engineered a 93 yards touchdown drive utilizing a short passing game to wide receiver Sebastian Velasquez and hard running of tailback Luis Flores, culminating in a 20 yard scamper into the Mavericks end zone by quarterback Xavier Barrera with 11:10 minutes remaining in the second quarter and place kicker Ivan Cruz extra point was perfect to increase the Eagles lead 14-0.
On their second possession, the Mavericks offense was unable to move the football past the staunch Eagles Landshark defense led by defensive end Anthony Paniagua and Ricardo Martinez and linebackers Alex Ruiz, Manny Fernandez, and defensive backs Ryan Rea and Arturo Hernandez, forced to punt.
The Eagles struck paydirt again on their third possession with a long touchdown drive, culminating with a six yard touchdown pass from quarterback Xavier Barrera to wide receiver Sebastian Velasquez with 8:40 minutes remaining in the second quarter and place kicker Ivan Cruz extra point sailed through the goalpost to increase the Eagles lead 21=0.
On their third possession, the Mavericks quarterback was forced to scramble into his own end zone and threw a pass to avoid being sacked by the mighty Eagles defense, but the referee flagged it as intentional grounding in the end zone, awarding the Eagles a safety to increase the lead to 23-0 with 7:26 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
With the safety, the Eagles received possession of the football again and quickly orchestrated a touchdown drive of 42 yards with running back Luis Flores tallying his second touchdown in the game with a seven yard rumble into the Mavericks end zone, and place kicker Ivan Cruz made the point after attempt to increase the Eagles lead 30-0 with 6:02 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
The Eagles defense once again shut down the Mavericks offense, forcing them to punt on their ensuing possession.
With a few minutes before halftime, the Eagles engineered a 71 yards touchdown drive on their next possession, culminating on an eight yard romp into the Mavericks end zone by running back Avery Embry with 1:01 minutes remaining in the second quarter, and Ivan Cruz kicked the extra point to increase the Eagles lead 37-0 just before halftime.
In the second half, the Eagles offense tallied 10 additional points, including a third touchdown run by tailback Luis Flores of 20 yards and a field goal and an extra point by place kicker Ivan Cruz in the third quarter to secure the Eagles victory over the Mavericks 47-0.
Eagles running back Luis Flores rushed for a total of 109 yards and three touchdowns on nine carries, quarterback Xavier Barrera rushed for 65 yards on four carries, tailback Avery Embry rushed for 27 yards on seven carries, Jesus Montano rushed for 17 yards on four carries, and Jay Jacquez had one yard on five carries, totaling 219 rushing yards.
Eagles quarterback Xavier Barrera passed for 190 yards on 15 completions from 19 pass attempts with one touchdown and one interception while Jay Jacquez passed for 65 yards on six completions out of nine pass attempts, totaling 255 yards passing.
Eagles wide receivers totaled 250 yards with Sebastian Velasquez getting 70 yards on five completions and one touchdown, Jesus Barba had 62 yards on five completions, Jeremiah Silva had 42 yards on four completions, and four other receivers shared the rest of the passing yards.
Leading the Eagles’ Landshark Defense in tackles was defensive backs Arturo Hernandez with eight, Ryan Rea with seven, and linebackers Alex Ruiz and Manny Fernandez had six, Alex Mallen had six, Maddox De Alba had six, Anthony Chacon had five, and other players shared the rest.
The Eagles are 1-0 in the young season and will next face the San Antonio Taft High School Raiders on Friday, September 5, 2025 at 7 p.m. at home in a non-district game.
The Mavericks fall to 0-1 but look to rebound against the Uvalde High School Coyotes in a non-district game on Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 7 p.m. at home with the game being designated as Parents Night.
