‘He led us to a victory’: Backup QB leads Fort Worth North Side over Trimble Tech

The North Side Steers started a different quarterback this Friday in their game against Trimble Tech at Farrington Field after senior Kevin Ortega’s injury. Ortega has led the Steers for the past three years. Junior Angel Valdez replaced Ortega on the field and said he has seen improvements in how he plays.

“When I came here, I wasn’t able to read defenses or process whatever was going on,” Valdez said. “Since getting here, I’ve been able to do that a whole lot faster and it helps the team because we are able to move the ball more and get down the field and get yards.”

Even with the adjustment at the quarterback position, the Steers were able to beat the Bulldogs 35-8.

“He did his job. He led us to a victory,” North Side head coach Joseph Turner said.

Turner said he had expectations that his team would win.

“To win just like we did, except we did not score as much as we should have,” Turner said.

One of the things that prevented the Steers from scoring more points was that they received a lot of flags throughout the game.

“Today we got a lot of penalties,” Valdez said. “We would have had a lot more points if we didn’t have all those penalties. If we clean up those little details, we will be alright.”

Mistakes were made on both sides of the ball. Trimble Tech fumbled which led to Northside’s first touchdown of the game with 6:44 remaining in the first quarter. Angel Travera made the extra point which put the Steers up 7-0. This concluded the first quarter.

Still going strong, Steers wide receiver, Lorenzo Perez scored a touchdown with 9:19 left in the second quarter. Northside led Trimble Tech 14-0.

North Side increased their lead with another touchdown. With 4:03 remaining in the first half, the score was 21-0.

Northside’s defensive back Darien Fantroy was an impact player and recorded two interceptions in the second quarter.

The final score of the night for the Steers was made by wide receiver Americo Diaz. With 7:49 left in the game, the score was 35-0.

In the final 20 seconds of the game, Trimble Tech running back Angel Venegas scored a touchdown. The two-point conversion was successful. This would bring the game to a 35-8 finish.

Next week, Northside will take on District 4 5A-D2’s top-ranked Colleyville Heritage at 11 a.m. CT and Trimble Tech will play Fort Worth Polytechnic at 3 p.m. CT. Both games will be on Saturday, October 21.