Home Grown: Former Pioneer QB Marburger leads UTRGV to first victory
EDINBURG — The last time Eddie Lee Marburger threw a touchdown pass in front of his hometown crowd, he was a senior at Sharyland Pioneer High School.
Marburger went on to spend the next four years at UTSA in San Antonio before electing to come home to UTRGV for his final year of college eligibility. The hometown legend wasted no time picking up where he left off five years ago, throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass to Xayvion Noland less than four minutes into the game.
That toss was the first of a dominant night for Marburger, who completed 18 of 19 passes for 365 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Vaqueros to a 66-0 win over Sul Ross State in their inaugural football game Saturday at Robert and Janet Vackar Stadium in Edinburg.
“Man, it is a blessing to be here,” Marburger said. “It feels like a full circle moment. I just gotta thank God for the opportunity. I thank Coach Bush for bringing me here and giving me an opportunity to play again. It feels awesome to do this again in front of my family and friends and with my teammates. It was just so much fun.”
Marburger operated to near perfection during his return to the RGV, guiding the Vaqueros to touchdowns on each of their seven possessions in the first half. He followed up his opening touchdown to Noland with a 6-yard scoring toss to Ismael Smith Flores and a perfectly placed 3-yard pass to Tony Diaz to give the Vaqueros a commanding 21-0 lead late in the first quarter.
Running back Djouvensky Schlenbaker joined the scoring in the second, powering in from 1 yard out to extend the Vaqueros’ lead to 28-0.
Marburger picked right back up later in the quarter, connecting with Noland again — this time hitting him in stride for a 78-yard score to make it 35-0. Noland finished the game with two catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns, while also adding a 52-yard run.
“I just read my coverage right and saw this guy (Noland) get open,” Marburger said. “I just gotta put it somewhere and he’s going to go get it. He deserves all the credit. He made great plays. First touchdown in school history to him. That is crazy. Just feels awesome.”
“It was fun taking those shots deep,” Noland added. “Obviously would not have happened without a good quarterback or a good O-line. It was just fun. I love taking the tops off defenses.”
A TJ Dement touchdown run pushed the lead to 42-0, with Marburger adding the finishing touch on an explosive first half by hitting Tavian Cord on a rope for a 61-yard touchdown.
The Vaqueros turned to their bench in the second half. Dement added another touchdown run in the third, while San Benito native Fabian Garcia rumbled in from 6 yards out in the fourth. Garcia’s score made him the first Valley player to find the end zone for the Vaqueros in program history.
“Really about as good as we could start,” UTRGV head coach Travis Bush said. “That was the plan. We were looking for effort and execution in these early season ballgames. … Hats off to everyone. We played about as good of a first half as we could play and were able to get a lot of guys in the ballgame, including some Valley guys and true freshmen. It was fun to get those guys some reps. We’re going to need them at some point this year.”
The Vaqueros capped their inaugural win with a 30-yard field goal by Brysen Gardener, marking the only time they didn’t reach the end zone.
UTRGV finished with 674 total yards of offense, including 438 through the air on 26-of-27 passing. Defensively, they posted the shutout while allowing just 74 yards.
The Vaqueros will look to build on their program-opening win next week when they hit the road for the first time to take on Prairie View A&M. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Blackshear Field in Prairie View.
“Saturdays in the Rio Grande Valley will never be the same again in the fall,” Bush said. “College football is here to stay. Just what an environment. Hats off to everyone who worked so hard to put this game on. … Best we could be at the end of the day was 1-0. Now we’re 1-0, but we’ll get back to work tomorrow.”
