BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville Rivera has over 20 underclassmen on its roster and some of them were making plays on Thursday night. When the game was on the line in the second half, the Raiders needed upperclassmen leadership on the field to seal the win.

The Raiders received that from their leaders as they held off a game Brownsville Lopez 26-20 in a cross-city rivalry to open the high school football season in the Rio Grande Valley Thursday night at Sams Stadium.

Brownsville Rivera senior athlete Ivan Rodriguez sealed the 26-20 victory by recovering an onside kick. He also led the Raiders to two successful scoring drives from under center after starting the game in the first half as a receiver and playing defense throughout.

Brownsville Lopez had a chance at the onside, it bounced around a bit before Rodriguez jumped on the ball. The Lobos had cut the lead to six with 1 minute, 44 seconds remaining in the game thanks to a 7-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Mercado.

“It was looking scary, I thought we missed it,” Rodriguez said about the onside kick. “I saw the ball in front of me and had to get that thing.”

Brownsville Lopez looked sharp at times, especially running the ball, but a bad snap on a fourth-and-short in the third quarter when driving would eventually lead to a touchdown by Rodriguez. The Raiders went no-huddle with Rodriguez at quarterback and methodically went down the field to make it 20-13 in the third quarter.

“My teammates got my back,” Rodriguez said. “I am not the only one that can make a difference. Number 6 scored two touchdowns in the first half, thats my dawg, Juan Garza … my line was making gaps, getting us a hole to push through and making us work. Our coaches too, with our conditioning, that is the reason were able to last all four quarters.”

Raiders senior running back Brandon Guerra made it 26-13 in the fourth quarter when he bursted through the line of scrimmage for a 23-yard touchdown after another composed drive.

“We are a two quarterback system,” Brownsville Rivera head coach Johnny Garza said. “You look at our roster, we have almost 20 sophomores on the team, including our starting quarterback, Gilly Cantu. It is an early game, I want to get him reps, but I know we rely on Ivan [Rodriguez] to finish off the game like the way he did, it is a good and positive thing to have.”

Garza said that Rodriguez told him that he would play any where on the field.

“He [Cantu] played phenomenal, he had his ups and downs, but he is a sophomore, he is going to get through it,” Rodriguez said about Cantu. “I have seen him at practice, he is good. He has the potential to be great. I am looking forward to playing with him the entire season.”

Cantu had some good passes. He stood up tall in the pocket and was willing to take a hit to allow his receivers to get open. He just had a couple of mistakes, but the Rivera defense was there to bail him out a couple of times and the Lobos also had some miscues of their own, especially their snapping.

“Hats off to Lopez, their running back is a great athlete, they came out early on in the first half and they were putting drives together by running the ball,” Garza said. “That is something we are still focusing on. We are still getting better at. I am glad that in the second half our defensive coaches made adjustments, the kids stepped up and we were able to slow them down and let our offense score some points.” Livesports scores

Brownsville Lopez juniors Angel Moreno, quarterback, and Richie Sauceda, running back, were key for the Lobos in the first half. Hard running by Sauceda and the Lobos’ backfield set up a short-touchdown run by Moreno and a 23-yard pass to senior receiver Jorge Lara to give the Lobos a 13-7 lead.

Brownsville Rivera sophomore Juan Garza was sensational in the first half for the Raiders. Garza had a 60-yard touchdown run to open the scoring and then had a 44-yard gain to set up his second touchdown run to tie it at 13 before the half. DownloadInteractive Maps

Garza, the head coach, praised his sophomore playmaker after the game. “Everybody will know his name,” he said.

Brownsville Lopez returns to action at 7 p.m. next Friday on the road to Hidalgo while Brownsville Rivera will face another city rival in Brownsville Veterans at 7 p.m. at Veterans High School.

esevern@brownsvilleherald.com