The Veterans Memorial Chargers will venture away from home to face off against the Pioneer Diamondbacks at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Pioneer will be up against a hot Veterans Memorial team: the squad just extended their winning streak to five. The Chargers breezed past Pharr-San Juan-Alamo to the tune of 48-7 on Friday. Given the Chargers' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 320th, while the Bears are ranked 774th) , the win wasn't entirely unexpected.
Veterans Memorial's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Cesar Belmontes led the charge by rushing for 217 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 11.4 yards per carry. Belmontes' longest rush was for an incredible 76 yards. Calvin Trevillion was another major influence, as he rushed for 152 yards and ran in a TD.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: Veterans Memorial was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 508 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2024.
Edgar Vela
| 09/26/25 vs Pharr-San Juan-Alamo | 8 |
| 09/19/25 @ Alexander | 8 |
| 09/11/25 vs Rio Grande City | 8 |
| 09/05/25 @ St. Joseph Academy | 10 |
| 08/29/25 vs Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Memorial | 9 |
Veterans Memorial's defense stepped up as well, laying out Dylan Rodriguez. six times. The heavy lifting was done by Chris Alvear and Edgar Vela, who racked up four sacks between them. Vela is also crushing it when it comes to total tackles: he's made at least eight every time he's taken the field this season. Daniel Selvera was another major factor on D, picking up a sack and making 12 total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Pioneer really took it to Porter for the full four quarters, racking up a 35-7 victory. The Diamondbacks pushed the score to 29-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Cowboys cut but never quite recovered from.
Pioneer's win came from a few key players Veterans Memorial will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Malakai Galindo, who threw for 144 yards and a pair of TDs on only 13 passes, and also rushed for 34 yards. Those 144 passing yards gave him a new career-high. Liam Pena helped out on the ground, rushing for 80 yards.
Veterans Memorial's record now sits at 5-0. As for Pioneer, their record is now 4-1.
Everything went Veterans Memorial's way against Pioneer in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, as Veterans Memorial made off with a 45-21 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Chargers since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
