Cardinals rumble to third straight win over Harlingen South, improve to 2-0
HARLINGEN — Since 1993, the Harlingen Cardinals and Harlingen South Hawks have clashed on the gridiron in a rivalry game dubbed the “Bird Bowl.”
The series has largely belonged to the Cardinals during the 32-year span, with the Cardinals holding a 26-5 series advantage heading into the 2024 rendition of the rivalry.
Bird Bowl XXXII proved much of the same, with the Cardinals rumbling past the Harlingen South Hawks 29-24 on Friday at Boggus Stadium in Harlingen.
“It is part of it,” Harlingen High head coach Manny Gomez said. “When you talk about Cardinals football you talk about greatness and I’m not saying that because I’m the head coach. We’ve played in a lot of great games against a lot of great competition. That’s what makes you or breaks you, having those quality games early on so when you get into those nail biters in district you’ve been there before. Adversity is part of what we emphasize in practice and being able to sustain it when it does appear because it is going to happen, especially in a rivalry game. I’m just super thankful. We had some hiccups with some penalties, but that is part of it when you have two amazing football teams trying to win a game, not just for themselves but for the community.”
The Cardinals jumped out on their intracity rival early on, taking a 14-0 advantage early in the second quarter thanks to touchdowns of 13 and 31 yards by junior running back Noah Huerta.
A safety midway through the second quarter broke the scoring drought for the Hawks, with a bad snap sailing over the Harlingen High punter’s head and into the end zone to give Harlingen South two points.
Back-to-back field goals to end the half by Gabino Sanchez cut the Hawks deficit to six at the break, trailing Harlingen High 14-8 after two.
In an unusual chain of events, the Cardinals and Hawks traded safeties within two minutes of each other in the third quarter, bringing the score to 16-10 with 7:03 remaining in the period.
Then, Huerta took over.
The Harlingen High junior scored on a 53-yard run with 5:21 left in the third, adding the final nail in the coffin during the fourth on a one-yard touchdown plunge to secure the Cardinals third straight Bird Bowl victory.
“I’m just super excited,” Huerta said. “Those last few drives were hard, but I had to push through it even though I was tired. I had to get the win for the team.”
The Cardinals improve to 2-0 on the year with the win, while the Hawks drop to 1-1.
Harlingen High (2-0) turns their attention to another tough matchup next week, taking on Edinburg Vela (2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday at Richard Flores Stadium in Edinburg.
Meanwhile, the Hawks (1-1) will try to bounce back as district play begins for them at 7:00 p.m. Friday against Flour Bluff (2-0) at Hornet Stadium in Corpus Christi.
