Early errors keep Veterans Memorial football from offensive success against PSJA North

This story has been updated to add new information: Player and coach quotes.

PHARR — PSJA North and Veterans Memorial were locked in a slugfest during the early portion of their District 15-5A Division I showdown at PSJA Stadium.

But it was the Raiders who were able to pounce on first-half Eagles miscues, giving them just enough of an opening to take a two-score lead into the break.

Given the advantage, and an offense capable of grinding out the clock and wearing on an opponent, PSJA North did just that — squeezing the air out of the Eagles in the second half in a 35-7 district win.

The Eagles got a late touchdown from running back Andrew Charlebois, but it was after two three-and-outs in the second half that diminished the hopes of a second-half turnaround.

In the first half, Veterans Memorial had a bad snap on a punt attempt, two lost fumbles after completed passes and a muffed punt that allowed the Raiders to have short fields and capitalize while the Eagles offense could not.

PSJA North amassed 264 yards on 44 carries, led by Ethan Guerra’s 171 yards rushing, while the Eagles were limited to 39 plays for 174 yards.

Charlebois finished with 69 yards and one score, while Isaiah Early tallied four catches with 58 yards to lead Veterans Memorial's receiving corps.

It was the Eagles first loss since Week 1 against Miller after which, Veterans Memorial bounced back with three straight victories, including two shutouts in district play.

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They said it

Veterans Memorial senior Chris Vasquez on what the Eagles will take from Thursday's setback: "We'll take this with a grain of salt and go back to the drawing board. We still have a whole district (schedule) left and we're going to keep our heads up and keep fighting. We will work on things in practice and as a team we're going to come together and be ready for the playoffs."

Veterans Memorial coach Ben Bitner on turnovers that hurt the Eagles: "We can't turn the ball over. We can't put the ball on the ground. We can't have negative plays, snap it over our head, have a bad exchange. I think a lot of that happened on positive plays. I know we fumbled twice on first down plays. That can't happen. In our two losses we turned the ball over 10 times."

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UP NEXT

PSJA North (3-1) is at Harlingen South next Friday. Veterans Memorial (3-2) is open next week.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Early errors keep Veterans Memorial football from offensive success against PSJA North