Los Fresnos coach Clint Finley understands even the slightest mishap can vault a game either direction.

After all, the Falcons lost by a touchdown in the season opener and then won by three the following week. They were close calls that produced a 1-1 non-district record, but still not the level of performance that would allow Los Fresnos to breathe easy, as it did last week in cruising to a 41-14 win over Hanna.

“The more we can improve upon limiting penalties and turnovers, the better football team we’re going to become,” Finley said. “We have to make sure we do away with those.”

With their offense surging, the Falcons (2-1,Nike Air Max Shoes  1-0) are riding a two-game winning streak. Saturday night, they face a Rivera team whose defense continues to sputter, as it allowed a previously touchdown-less Harlingen High team to run up 38 points and earn its first district win of the season last week.

To compound the problem, the Raiders (0-3, 0-1) have been unable to score a touchdown since their opener.

“Our offense has struggled, and we’re working on it,” Rivera coach Tom Chavez said. “The challenge is moving the ball. You’ve got to move the chains, get yardage and get movement.”

To do that, Chavez said the offensive line would have to correct errors in order to help get first downs.

Los Fresnos, on the other hand, has shown a spike in point production each week. Part of that is due to the contributions of quarterback Jonmichael Rosales, running back William Cox and the wide receiver tandem of Brandon Colon and Jaime Mata.

Rosales, who also started last season, threw for three touchdowns last week and nearly 200 yards in blowing out Hanna. Cox ran for 200 yards that game, and Colon had a team-leading three catches for 90 yards.

Despite errors (penalties, turnovers), Finley said the team has been able to stay afloat, in part, because of the “execution” on offense.

Chavez realizes that if his Raiders intend on making the playoffs, they’ll need more offensive production than they’ve demonstrated in three games this season.

Since a 20-14 season-opening loss at Mission Veterans Memorial, Rivera has scored only once — a field goal. Correcting that issue is atop Raiders’ to-do list, Chavez said, because teams like Los Fresnos “are the kind of teams that are going to be in the playoffs.”

“So we have to work hard to get to that level,” he added.

Mario Aguirre covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @mario_aguirre.




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