RANGERS BEAT MONTERREY IN OPENER | A 27-9 win for No. 4-ranked KC

Turns out, Monterrey Tech University was a pretty tough season-opening opponent for the Kilgore College Rangers on Saturday night, here at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.

But opponent No. 1 conquered.

Nobody said it’d be easy. And it certainly wasn’t.

Over a dozen penalties, two touchdowns called back, and trailing 9-6 at halftime, coach Willie Gooden’s Rangers surely did not take Easy Street.

It was more like Thunder Alley.

But they claimed the lead early in the second half, held it, added to it, and ultimately won, 27-9, not allowing the Borregos Salvajes (the “Wild Rams”) another point.

It was a non-conference win, the Rangers’ first game ever against an international opponent (one from Mexico, and with 17 national championships to its credit).

For their trouble, KC earns a little off-time, and they’ll fine-tune the mistakes. It wasn’t a beauty contest, as was mentioned. But they’re 1-0, ranked No. 4 overall in the NJCAA’s national poll, and they’re off until Sept. 14. That’s the Southwest Junior College Football Conference opener, and they’ll play that one at home, too, against New Mexico Military Institute.

The first score of the year by the Rangers: a 36-yard field goal by Adan Reyes, the former Kilgore High School standout. Reyes hit it perfectly with 7:26 in the first quarter, giving the Rangers a 3-0 lead after their first drive of the year stalled at the Monterrey Tech 19-yard-line.

Tech, who couldn’t do a lot right on its first drive, didn’t misfire much on its second. After a good kick return by Alajandro Cruz Parra to the Rams’ own 37-yard-line that jump-started the team, Monterrey Tech was in business, and a handful of plays later, they were at KC’s 20, one of the plays a 23-yard gain from quarterback Fernando Sarabia Rodriguez to Alejandro Gonzalez.

The next play: a touchdown, a screen pass to Mauro Cavallari Moran for the 20-yard score, which came with 4:29 left in the opening quarter. Kicker Homero Montano Palacios hit the extra point and somewhat quieted the KC crowd by giving Tech a 7-3 lead.

The next drive for the Rangers was kind of a microcosm of the game for KC, or at least of the first half. KC quarterback Tyler Webb hooked up with Samuel Mbake, of Kennesaw, Georgia, for what appeared to be a 66-yard touchdown. But Mbake was flagged for taunting – waving at the Monterrey defensive backs as he ran into the end zone. The ball was brought back out to the 20-yard-line.

On top of that, Webb then connected with running back Gary Maddox, of Euless, for what appeared to be a third-down conversion – but KC was flagged for holding, and moved back into third down and 18.

Penalties would hurt KC the entire game. They would eventually overcome them.

But on that drive, a screen pass went incomplete, and coach Gooden would send Reyes out for another field goal, this one from 44 yards out. He hit it, as well, and allowed the Rangers to pull within a point – 7-6 – with 2:24 left in the quarter.

Another Webb for KC – defensive back Jaylen Webb – had the first of a few big plays on Monterrey’s next drive. Webb snatched the ball out of the air, a one-handed interception that looked to be for-sure catch at the KC 13-yard-line. If Webb hadn’t snared that catch, the receiver looked to be going in for the score. Webb grabbed the ball one-handed, and allowed KC to take possession.

The Rangers would ultimately turn the ball over on downs, though, and then force Monterrey to practically do the same: KC’s defense stiffened up on Monterrey’s next possession, forcing a 33-yard field goal that the Monterrey kicker missed, leaving the Rams up, 7-6.

Still in the first half, the KC offensive line of Austin Yeager (Richmond), Marcus Smith (Bellville), La’Rayvion Wright (Dallas), ZaMaryon Bryan (Bay City) and Etueni Ropati (Killeen) did a fantastic job keeping quarterback Tyler Webb safe on a bootleg play, giving him time to roll out and find receiver Melvin Polk downfield. Polk caught it in Monterrey territory, and two plays later, Webb and Mbake connected again, this time on a 38-yard touchdown.

And again, it was called back! This time, the touchdown was brought back due to an ineligible man downfield penalty on the Rangers. KC would have had at least 12 more points on the scoreboard, but still trailed 7-6 in the second quarter, instead left at second-and-18 at midfield.

They would punt, wind up driving all the way to the Rangers’ 2-yard-line, and failing on a fourth-down conversion: the receiver caught the ball on the fourth-down play, but KC defensive back Marcus Moultrie wrapped him up right at the line of scrimmage, and KC took over on downs.

It was KC’s ball at its own 2-yard-line, but only momentarily: the Rangers were hit in the end zone on the next play, a running play that Monterrey’s defensive front sniffed out, and got KC for a safety, two points. It upped Monterrey’s lead to 9-6, with 2:31 left in the half.

Monterrey gets the ball back on the free kick, which is what happens after a safety, and drives into field goal range. But KC’s Darmel Hollins Jr., another former Killeen standout, came around the edge and blocked the kick, giving the Rangers the ball back. They didn’t manage to score, and punted, trailing 9-6 at the halftime break.

KC received the ball to open the second half and on that play – one play – turned the entire game around. Receiver Devontae Monzee snagged the kickoff at his own 1-yard-line and he was gone – he found a hole and took the kickoff 99 yards for the touchdown, the go-ahead touchdown from which Monterrey would not recover. Reyes hit the extra point, and with 14:47 left in the third quarter, KC took a 13-9 lead that it would not relinquish.

The Rangers would add two fourth-quarter scores, Jayden Webb would have a second interception and Kase Mumphrey would get one, too, for KC’s secondary, and the Rangers would run out the rest of the clock for the 27-9 win.