White beats Orange in UTRGV’s inaugural spring game

1 month ago 85

BROWNSVILLE — The UTRGV football team took a trip to the Lower Valley for its first spring game in program history and delivered a real-game experience as the White team topped the Orange team 17-5 on Thursday at Brownsville Veterans Memorial Stadium in front of a sellout crowd.

“It was a fun day,” UTRGV head coach Travis Bush said. “It’s been a fun week, a fun spring, but definitely finishing up today out here in Brownsville with the crowd, with the band and the cheerleaders and getting a real game atmosphere. We’re really proud of the way our guys competed.”

The Vaqueros split their roster into two teams to make up the Orange and White squads. The Orange squad featured most of the first-team offense, while the White team featured most of the first-team defense.

The two exchanged field goals early as Orange’s Julian Melucci drilled a 36-yard kick for the first points on the board. The White team answered with a 36-yard field goal from Troop O’Neal to make it 3-3 midway through the second quarter.

White team redshirt sophomore safety TJ Neal forced the game’s first turnover by breaking on a ball and intercepting a pass over the middle.

The takeaway set up a White team touchdown as Laredo United alumnus and freshman quarterback Atzel Chavez Jr. scrambled for a 5-yard score to make it a 10-3 game at the half.

“I’m really glad and thankful for all the support. Ever since I’ve been here there’s been non-stop support,” Chavez said. “The atmosphere was great. White team, we came in with energy. It was really good. We were all locked in, and it was really fun to play against our guys. We got a really good group of guys, and it was really cool seeing the guys go full-speed.”

The Orange team cut into the lead with a safety late in the third quarter after a high snap led to a tackle in the end zone for two points by freshman defensive back Aaden Benjamin.

After turning it into a one-score game, the White team put the finishing touches on things as Corpus Christi Flour Bluff alumnus and freshman quarterback Jayden Paluseo connected with graduate student Justin Kimber for six with a deep ball down the right sideline. Kimber stacked the defensive back and got behind him to bring in the dime from Paluseo.

“It was a good spring. Overall, as we progressed from fall, we feel like we’ve gotten better,” Bush said. “As a team we’ve gotten better, but on the flip side, we got a long way to go to compete in the Southland Conference in 2025. We definitely got to keep growing up in a lot of areas, definitely gotta keep building the roster with some upperclassmen here in the next few months, but I’m excited where we’re at and excited about where we’re trending as a football team.”