DITV GAME OF THE WEEK: FIVE QUESTIONS IN. PSJA NORTH GOT LOUD
PSJA North 56, Mission Vets 14
We pulled up Thursday night with five questions.
PSJA North basically grabbed the mic.
35-0 at the half. More than 500 yards of offense. 56 on the board.
This wasn’t one of those games where you needed a couple days to figure out what you watched.
PSJA North put it right in front of everybody.
1. CAN MISSION VETS KEEP PSJA NORTH FROM OWNING THE GAME ON THE GROUND?
This was the smoke before kickoff.
PSJA North had just run for 444 yards in Week 1. Mission Vets had allowed 216 rushing yards.
Everybody knew what was coming.
Didn’t matter.
The Raiders lined up and kept leaning on Mission Vets anyway.
And Mark Quintanilla’s 49-yard touchdown run was probably the cleanest example of the problem. One missed fit, one crease, and he’s gone.
That’s PSJA North right now.
You spend all week preparing for the run game, but there’s no single dude you can circle and say, take him away and we’re good.
Too many options. Too many ways to get downhill.
PSJA North ended up with more than 500 yards of offense, and Mission Vets never really made the Raiders leave their comfort zone.
They wanted to play their game.
So they did.
2. IS ROMAN REYNA THE ONE PLAYER WHO CAN BREAK PSJA NORTH’S SCRIPT?
If Mission Vets was going to make this thing weird, Reyna was the guy.
He came in with 382 total yards and three touchdowns in Week 1. That’s why we circled him. He’s dangerous when the play stops looking like the play.
PSJA North never gave him enough room to live there.
Mission Vets had only 46 yards of offense in the first half, with Jacoby Herrera getting home for two sacks before halftime.
That’s a long night for a quarterback whose superpower is creating when things break down.
Reyna did finally shake something loose after halftime. He threw a pair of touchdown passes, including finding Fabian Ruiz on a crossing pattern that Ruiz turned into a 44-yard score.
That looked more like the Mission Vets offense we expected to see.
Problem was, the scoreboard was already cooked.
PSJA North didn’t completely erase Reyna.
They did something more important.
They kept him from changing the night.
3. WHAT DOES DRAYDEN ESPINOZA HAVE TO PROVE AT QUARTERBACK?
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Nobody needs another game to tell us PSJA North can run the rock.
We know.
So eventually somebody is going to say, cool, we’re loading the box and making Espinoza beat us somewhere else.
He gave them a little preview Thursday.
Espinoza connected with sophomore Ryan Diaz for a 49-yard touchdown, then later punched one in himself on a quarterback draw before halftime. Espinoza ultimately finished with three touchdowns on the night.
That’s the part worth watching.
He doesn’t have to throw it 40 times.
Nobody is asking for that.
He just has to make you pay when you start getting nosy around the line of scrimmage.
Diaz going for 49 is exactly what that looks like.
Crowd the run game too hard?
Ball over your head.
Stay honest outside?
Now go deal with everything PSJA North has coming downhill.
The Raiders already had an identity.
Espinoza is starting to give that identity another layer.
4. WHICH DEFENSE CAN CREATE THE TURNOVER THAT FLIPS THIS GAME?
Plot twist.
The Blackshirts didn’t need one giant pick-six to wreck the game.
They just kept messing up Mission Vets’ night.
Herrera had the two first-half sacks.
Then special teams wanted some action too.
Albert Solis blocked a punt through the back of the end zone for a safety in the first quarter.
That’s the type of play that doesn’t always get the same love as a touchdown, but it tells you what kind of night it was.
Defense getting pressure.
Special teams getting hands on punts.
Mission Vets also coughed up a kickoff that PSJA North recovered around midfield.
Everything kept tilting one direction.
And the number that really tells the story is still this:
46 yards for Mission Vets at halftime.
The offense is going to get the clips because 56 looks crazy on a scoreboard.
But the Blackshirts and special teams kept feeding the machine.
That’s how a game gets away from you fast.
5. WHAT IS THE MISSION VETS UPSET FORMULA — AND WHO HAS THE EDGE LATE?
Mission Vets needed some chaos.
Let Reyna cook.
Hit an explosive.
Steal a possession.
Make PSJA North sweat a little.
Get this thing into the fourth quarter and see who’s built for it.
That was the lane.
PSJA North shut the lane down before halftime.
35-0.
There was no late-game edge to debate because the Raiders never let a late game develop.
To Mission Vets’ credit, Reyna and Ruiz helped finally crack the Blackshirts after halftime, and the Patriots put two touchdowns on the board.
But PSJA North wasn’t trying to turn this into one of those well, at least the second half was close type of nights.
The Raiders kept scoring.
Espinoza got his third touchdown in the final quarter, and PSJA North finished this thing at 56-14.
No drama.
No comeback window.
Just business handled.
DITV TAKE
The easy takeaway is PSJA North can run the ball.
Old news.
The Blackshirts can play defense.
We knew that too.
What hit different Thursday was how many names kept showing up.
Quintanilla breaks a 49-yarder.
Diaz catches a 49-yard touchdown.
Herrera gets home twice.
Solis blocks a punt for a safety.
Espinoza is making plays with his arm and his legs.
That’s not one star carrying everybody.
That’s a football team with answers.
And that’s what stood out more than anything.
PSJA North already knows who it is. The Raiders aren’t searching for an identity two weeks into the season.
They’re adding pieces to one that already works.
Mission Vets is going to be alright. Roman Reyna is still a problem, Fabian Ruiz showed what can happen when they finally get him space, and one bad Thursday against the Valley’s No. 1 team doesn’t erase what that group can be.
But on this night?
There was a gap.
We came into the DITV Game of the Week with five questions.
PSJA North didn’t leave us much room to argue about the answers.
2-0.
56 points.
More than 500 yards.
The Raiders aren’t chasing the 956 right now.
Everybody else is chasing them.
Stat sources: RGV Sports, MaxPreps coach-entered statistics and other verified game reporting. DITV analysis and commentary based on game coverage and film observations.
Comments