Mission Veterans against Mercedes lived up to the hype Friday night of being one of the best playoff games going on across the Valley.
The Tigers defeated the Patriots 44-42 at Tom Landry Stadium in Mission. Mercedes moves on and the season ends for Mission Veterans, but it was still a good season by the Patriots, despite not winning any titles. The Patriots beat some of the better teams in the Valley during non-district and came up just short of winning a district and bi-district title.
Mission Veterans had a late push to win the game. The Patriots had a chance at an onside kick after junior Roman Reyna scored a touchdown run with a little over a minute left, but the Tigers recovered the kick.
Mission Veterans was down 37-21 with 7 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Reyna hit Alejandro Melendez, he took it 30 yards for a score and then senior running back Carlos Abrego made it 37-35 after finding space down the side line for a 55-yard rushing touchdown.
The Patriots missed the two-point try and gave up a touchdown the next drive with four minutes left in the fourth.
Mission Veterans head coach David Gilpin said his team fought against a good Mercedes team.
“At the end of the day, our boys came out and battled,” Gilpin said. “Coaching cliches, I know, but proud of our coaching staff, proud of our boys and it is like I told the boys right now, I do not have any regrets. These guys played hard and did what we asked them to do. We came up short and that is life.”
Mercedes receiver Frankie Salinas went off for the Tigers. He had three touchdown catches on the night and stopped the two-point attempt by picking off the pass.
“It is an unbelievable win, coming into someone else’s house. We were underdogs coming into this game. It is a really good feeling, beating them,” Salinas said.
Salinas was found by his quarterback Louie Rincon on those plays. Salinas usually beat the defense to find himself wide open and Rincon just had to deliver.
Mercedes junior running back Noah Buenrostro did damage in the first half, he had two rushing touchdowns to help give the Tigers a 24-14 lead at the half and kicker Josue Moreno made three field goals on the night.
The Patriots and Tigers should both be excited of the future with how many players will return from this game, next season. Reyna found freshman Daniel Longoria for a touchdown on the opening drive, they both return and he also hit senior Fabian Ruiz for two scores. Ruiz had a nice run after the first catch where he shrugged off multiple defenders.
“Looking forward to the future, obviously,” Gilpin said. “We have a tremendous amount coming back offensively ... we got four of our five lineman coming back. Last year, we had only had one starter back, most people did not know that. One starter, Roman, that was it .. media was friendly towards us because of Roman, because he is that good. Bottom line, we had 10 new guys. We had a couple guys that played some … we were a young group. We are excited about next year. You have Roman Reyna coming back, you go into the offseason feeling good about yourself.”
Next up for Mercedes is Boerne High in the 5A DII playoffs. Elsewhere, Sharyland Pioneer lost to Gregory-Portland, Edinburg Vela beat Brownsville Veterans, McAllen High defeated Weslaco East, McAllen Memorial lost to Corpus Christi Veterans, Harlingen High beat La Joya High in a wild game and La Villa is the only team left from the Sub-5A schools.
