Stephens Stopped
Vikings, Wolfe tame Mustangs
By Chris Cobb
The Brownsville Herald
September 10, 2005 — McALLEN — In an evening filled with fireworks, Pace’s Matt Wolfe led Vikings, ranked eighth by TBH, past Bradley Stephens and the No. 7 McAllen Memorial Mustangs, 54-35, Friday night at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.
“What a track meet,” Pace head coach Rene Medrano said. “The kids wanted to play. They did a great job.”
Wolfe made it look easy. The senior picked apart the Memorial secondary, racking up 279 yards and six touchdowns. In fact, all three of his completions in the first half were for touchdowns.
“I think we surprised people tonight,” Wolfe said.
The inept Mustang defense looked surprised.
They allowed a total of 505 yards and struggled to stop Wolfe or an efficient Viking running game led by junior Alexis Garza. Garza finished the night with 195 yards on 24 carries including a 54-yard touchdown scamper.
“We played as a team,” Garza said. “We had real tough practices (this week), and this is what happens.”
Highly-touted Mustang running back Stephens lived up to expectations.
“He’s for real,” Medrano said. “You can’t stop a kid like that, you can only hope to contain him. He hurt us.”
Whether he was running, catching the ball out of the backfield or returning kicks, Stephens was electric.
He started the night with a 67-yard touchdown catch, followed it up with two touchdown runs, and then put the icing on the cake by taking a kickoff 88 yards into the end zone.
He finished with 164 yards rushing, 91 yards receiving and four touchdowns.
Stephens seemed to be the only one keeping Memorial in the game from the outset.
The Mustangs fumbled on the first play from scrimmage, leading to a Pace field goal and an early 3-0 lead. Wolfe’s first highlight came on their next possession, sailing a high-arching pass that hit wideout Mario Rios in stride for an 83-yard touchdown pass to go up 10-0 after the first quarter.
Memorial pulled within three, after scrambling quarterback Mitchell Bunger found Stephens for an eight-yard completion that turned into a 67-yard touchdown.
After a rare stop, the Mustangs drove the ball the length of the field and Stevens punched it in from the goal line to give Memorial a 14-10 lead.
With the first half winding down, Wolfe connected with wide receiver Andres Martinez for an 83-yard touchdown. Martinez finished the game with three catches for 116 yards.
After a Mustang fumble deep in their own territory, Wolfe fluttered a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Danny Reyna to take a 24-14 lead into the locker room.
The real scoring started in the second half. Pace struck first, driving the length of the field before Wolfe hit Curtis Ahn on a slant route to go up 31-14.
Stephens answered back, scoring on a 7-yard touchdown run, which Wolfe matched on the next drive, throwing a 33-yard touchdown to Martinez.
Stephens then ran back the kickoff to make the score 38-28 and keep the Mustangs’ hopes alive.
But Wolfe again kept Pace a step ahead, throwing a sixth and final touchdown pass, a 30-yard strike to Garza.
Memorial didn’t quit. A seven-yard touchdown run by Nick Moore again reduced it to a ten-point deficit at 45-35.
But after Garza took a handoff up the middle 54 yards to the end zone, the game was all but over. The Viking defense forced a safety at the end to make the final 54-35.
[email protected]
