...ROUGH ROAD TO THE FINALS:...Gutty Brownsville Vets...It's The Only Story In Town...This Will Not Be A Game For Mom Or Grandma...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas |...That cool, rarified December air and a much-better opponent. Ingredients for a blowout, sure. The third part of that equation being bitter defeat.

That's what the smart boys at TexasFootball.com are saying about tonight's Class 5A, semifinals tussle at Buccaneer Stadium between the upstart Brownsville Veterans Memorial High Chargers and the more-accomplished Smithson Valley Rangers.

It's Game Time for a trip to the Finals at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Smithson Valley (13-1) is favored. Brownsville Vets (12-2) has been dissed before.

The perennial contender Rangers are supposed to have a clearcut advantage at quarterback (Ryland Walker, shown in photo above) and at running back. Vets will rise or hang with headstrong QB Storm Montoya and defensive stalwart Jaime Martinez. It should be, we say, one of those wild, up and down the field shootouts, perhaps even a bloodied one.

Both teams came from behind to win their last game, Smithson Valley over A&M Consolidated and Brownsville over Corpus Christi Miller.

This is THE STORY in Brownsville...and across the Rio Grande Valley, a city and region used to being routinely whipped by upstate schools year after year after year. It's been 62 years since the fabled Donna Redskins won the only state championship won by a Valley squad. Ironically, like the Vets, Donna High carried two defeats into the playoffs, ultimately beating Quanah High at Memorial Stadium in Austin behind steady QB Luz Pedraza and non-nonsense linebacker Freddie Edwards.

Seasoned pundits at TexasFootball.com say Smithson Valley's ball-control style of play, along with better overall talent will see the Rangers leave the field with a victory.

But what's on paper doesn't always tell the story. Scripts can go bonkers between the sidelines. Big Plays tend to be the deciders in these late-season games. Drive and emotion can indeed take you to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

These Brownsville Vets have over-achieved all season, especially after early-season losses to San Benito and lowly PSJA. That victory two weeks ago over unbeaten, state-ranked PSJA North seems to have been the catalyst for where the team is now, showing-off and riding the playoff crest.

Beating also-undefeated, favored Corpus Christi Miller at home last weekend pumped some can-do into Coach J.C. Ramirez's charges.

Can Brownsville maintain the superiority? It scored all of its points in the second half after being down 21-0 at the start of the fateful third quarter to Miller. That was all-guts, all want-to.

Tonight's game may not be for Mom or Grandma as the boys brawl on the field, the championship-starved Vets not going away easy, their hunger evident from the opening play. As for the halftime score, well, we say it will not be very meaningful in this game. Second-half roars have been the norm for Brownsville Vets. Expect it one more time. 

KNOW THIS:...Tonight's game is not simply Vets vs. another team.

This will be Vets vs. History, a genuine moment in time...

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