United High School - Longhorn Yearbook (Laredo, TX)

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They tried to choke Luis all night. We came up short on 3rd down. Defensive breakdowns costly to Longhorns The United Longhorns won the battle of the statistics against Benavides Friday night at Kruerger Field but when the final gun sounded, the pesky Eagles walked off the field with a 10-7 Dist. 31-AA win over the Herd. We had two breakdowns in the secondary and these gave them two scores, said United mentor Robert Ford. They came out with a veer set and two tight endsmsomething we hadn't see them do before and both times they surprised us. Our secondary didn't react quick enough and that quick pitch and halfback pass set up their two scores. We ran well on them as we were able to pick up two or three first downs in a row but then had some crucial breakdowns on third down situations and that's what actually killed us, said Ford. Wejust stopped ourselves all night. Benavides has been underrated and underestimated by a lot of people but they do have a good team, continued Ford. San Diego shouldn't feel that confident just because they blanked Freer 40-0. San Diego still has Premont, Benavides and usto contend with and anything can happen on any given night. We go against the Vaqueros next week in their own backyard and just like I told the kids.,.We are capable of 1 30 - Varsity Football - Laredo Times Article upsetting them if we can only perform up to our capabiltie and cut down on those costly breakdowns on defense an penalties when we have the ball. The Eagles made some of their own breaks late in th game. In the fourth quarter Amado Ayala punted to th Benavides 24. A penalty against the Eagles put the ball on th 12. After two short gains on running plays, Gilbert Game boomed a 69-yard quick kick all the way back to the United 1 putting the 'Horns in a hole that the Eagle defenders mad sure they stayed in for the remainder of the game. Benavides coach Margarito Guerrero said the Eagle probably took United by surprise with the varried plays earl in the game. But we didn't move the ball a couple of times, he noted. What helped us was that field goal. It's a complete turnaround for us, really, Guerre continued. These guys are playing on sheer guts an determination. We'll take them as they come now. The Eagles share first place in Dist. 31-AA along with pr season favorite San Diego. It was an overall team effort, Guerrero noted. It w our defense that kept us in there. I think we stopped them fo times on fourth down. But what helped us was that qui kick.

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By JOHNNY CAMPOS Times Sports Writer United head coach Robert Ford might have missed his calling: Before the Longhorns' game against previously un- beaten San Diego Ford predicted the 'Homs could pull the big upset over the then 10th ranked AA team in the state if they made their own breaks. That was some prophesy. The United defenders pick- ed off four Vaquero passes and recovered three fumbles en route to a 15-10 victory on the Vaqueros' home turf. Our game 'plan was to keep them outside our 40 yard line, because if we did that we figured they wouldn't be able to drive it in, and we were right, commented a happy Ford, who saw his team get back into the Dist. 31-AA race with the upset win. Ford said the Vaqueros did show signs of being a good ball club, but all the tur- novers made the difference. And it was the aggressive play of the United defense that made the difference. Scott Doggette picked off a pair of key pass, stoppingSan Diego drives inside the Un- ited 40. He also tipped another pass that was in- tercepted by Carlos Garcia. Amado Ayala also snared n enemy aerial, while Kevin oung and Bobby Laurel ecovered fumbles. Laurel's umble netted the 'Horns hat turned out to be the inning touchdown in the inal quarter of play. San Diego head coach Ray ontreras said his team had otten away with their mis- akes earlier this season, but ey finally caught up to hem. We played bad nough to lose a couple of imes already this year, oted Contreras, whose team ost to the Longhoms in the an Diego stadium two easons ago and had not lost t home since. The Vaqs also ad a nine-game winning treak extending back to last ear broken by the 'Horns. United 'prophets' from Son Diego lapses We don't usually punt out of our endzone. We don't usually allow long run- backs, he continued. Defensively we played a jewel of a game and allowed nine points. It was just too much good field position given away, and United did take it. There is a lot of crying going on here now, Con- treras said. They burst our bubble. But I don't think we're out of it yet. It just makes our challenge a little harder. We got over 300 yards total offense last night, he added. I still think the better football team lost lastnightf' Although the defense gave up all the yardage to San Diego, Ford said his team eamed all their breaks, poin- ting out aggressive play by Sammy Barreras, Arthur Ralph Quiroz, out most of the season with injuries, also played a good defensive game for the 'Horns, but his only carry of the game offen- sively put the Longhorns ahead on a one-yard scoring run. A quick kick by Amado Ayala and a punt by Ed Sherfey were killed inside the San Diego five at about the one, and Ford said the pun- ting game kept the Vaqueros in the hole most of the game. The United defense scored a safety in the final period after Sherfey's punt was downed by Ayala on the Vaquero' one. The two San Diego backs ran into each other in their own endzone, and Harwerth was right there to make sure the play was over. That happened with 3:27 left on the clock. AfterUnited failed to move the ball, they punted to the Vaqs, who reached the United 45 yard line before Ayala recorded his interception with 17 seconds to go. United used up the rest of the clock. That's what was really fun...watching the clock run off and they couldn't do anything about it, said a smiling Ford. The United offense racked up 195 total yards, with fullback George Ramirez netting 103 of them on 25 carries, for his second out- standing performance in as many weeks. Luis Gonzalez picked up 59 yards on a dozen tries. The victory puts United back into the district picture with a 1-1 mark, which they will risk next week when they host the punchless Zapata Hawks. Peterson and Lance Harwerth Laredo Times Article- Ralph is probably holding. 131