<\/p>\n
The Memorial Minutemen celebrate their 23-0 win over the John F. Kennedy Rockets during the Salsa Bowl at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
The Salsa Bowl always matters for bragging rights between Kennedy and Memorial, but the 2026 edition also was an opportunity for each team to\u00a0kickstart its season with both still searching for their first wins.<\/p>\n
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In a series long dominated by the Rockets, including a two-game win streak, the Minutemen breathed new life into the rivalry by shutting out Kennedy 23-0 on Friday at\u00a0Edgewood Veterans Stadium.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d Memorial head coach Ruben\u00a0Davila said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a while since we won this game, but just the effort, the pride and the joy that these boys have \u2014 the culture that we\u2019re trying to change \u2014 I mean, everything we\u2019re doing and everything that we\u2019ve gotten to this point is trying to get this win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy (0-4) rushed 11 straight times on its opening drive, getting all the way down to the Memorial 18-yard line. But a fumble gave possession to the Minutemen, and they capitalized, notching a 30-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 1:55 remaining in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
After a Rockets three-and-out, Memorial sophomore quarterback German\u00a0Gallardo hit senior Josiah Rodriguez for a 57-yard gain. Two plays later, after Gallardo exited the game with an injury, senior running back Roel Neira punched in the score on an 8-yard run. A botched extra point kept Memorial\u2019s lead at 9-0.<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s offense continued to struggle on its next possession, only managing one first down before being forced to punt again. With\u00a0Gallardo back in at QB, Memorial (1-3) picked up a pair of first downs and nearly scored on a busted coverage from the Rockets, but\u00a0Gallardo couldn\u2019t quite connect with senior Damian Garza near the end zone.<\/p>\n
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On the next play, the Minutemen\u00a0dialed up a trick play \u2014 an end-around, double pass that saw senior\u00a0Josiah Rodiguez launch a 29-yard passing touchdown to senior Anthony Grant, putting Memorial up 16-0 just before half.<\/p>\n
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Memorial\u2019s German Gallardo (15) and Josiah Rodriguez (4) celebrate Gallardo\u2019s fourth quarter touchdown against the John F. Kennedy Rockets during the Salsa Bowl at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. The Minutemen defeated the Rockets 23-0.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Kennedy’s Jaydin Hurtado (2), Ricardo Gomez (44) and Gabriel Salazar (45) bring down Memorial quarterback German Gallardo (15) during the Salsa Bowl at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. The Minutemen defeated the Rockets 23-0.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Memorial quarterback German Gallardo (15) makes a hand off to Damian Lopez (22) during the fourth quarter of the Salsa Bowl against the John F. Kennedy Rockets at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. The Minutemen defeated the Rockets 23-0.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Memorial\u2019s Damian Lopez (22) runs the ball during the fourth quarter of the Salsa Bowl against the John F. Kennedy Rockets at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. The Minutemen defeated the Rockets 23-0.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Memorial\u2019s John Ruiz (8) blocks Kennedy’s Jayden Jordan (7) from making a catch in the endzone during the Salsa Bowl at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. The Minutemen defeated the Rockets 23-0.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
The Memorial Minutemen celebrate quarterback German Gallardo\u2019s touchdown during the fourth quarter of the Salsa Bowl against the John F. Kennedy Rockets at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. The Minutemen defeated the Rockets 23-0.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Memorial head coach Luis Davila reacts to his team\u2019s 23-0 victory over the John F. Kennedy Rockets in the Salsa Bowl at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
The Memorial Minutemen celebrate their 23-0 win over the John F. Kennedy Rockets during the Salsa Bowl at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Kennedy’s Chris Reyes (0) shakes off Memorial defender Joel Lopez (9) during the Salsa Bowl at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. The Minutemen defeated the Rockets 23-0.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
The Minutemen\u2019s opening possession of the second half stalled, and the Rockets blocked the ensuing punt, setting up Kennedy with premier field position. But the Memorial defense refused to budge and forced a turnover on downs deep in its own\u00a0red zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defense showed out,\u201d\u00a0Davila said. \u201cThe main thing \u2014 we griped about it all week long \u2014 is just staying true to what we do and staying to what they do. We all have a job, and everybody did their job and it all came together.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Leading by two possessions, Memorial hit the dagger late in the game on a stellar play from\u00a0Gallardo. With 2:39 left on the clock, Gallardo scrambled to his right, straight into the arms of a defender. He spun out of the tackle and weaved his way through the Rockets\u2019 defense for a 24-yard rushing score.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey grabbed me, and I thought it was over,\u201d\u00a0Gallardo said. \u201cBut I thought to myself, \u2018I have to do it for my brother\u2019 because he would\u2019ve always told me to never give up on a play. So I broke free, and I found an opening. I took and I scored.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallardo\u2019s scoring run sealed the win for the Minutemen, an emotional victory for both the players and Memorial fans. Though it\u2019s Gallardo\u2019s first season as a starter, he wanted to deliver this win for former teammates who had come up short the last two years.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI wanted to give them something to cherish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Memorial Minutemen celebrate their 23-0 win over the John F. Kennedy Rockets during the Salsa Bowl at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-440719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}