RIO GRANDE VALLEY – A crowd of 3,562 watched the white team beat the orange team 17-5 in the inaugural spring game by The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros football team on Thursday at Brownsville Veterans Memorial Stadium.
 
Freshman Atzel Chavez Jr., a Laredo United alum, shined as the starting quarterback for White, going 9-for-15 for 110 yards in the air to go with five rushes for a net total of 24 yards. One of Chavez's rushes, a five-yarder, led to the first touchdown of the day to put white up 10-3 late in the second quarter.
 
One of Chavez's top targets was freshman Christian Sabsook, an Air Force transfer, who was targeted five times and made four catches for 71 yards.
 
White added another touchdown in the second half when freshman Jayden Paluseo, who graduated from Flour Bluff High School in December, connected with graduate student Justin Kimber, a Louisiana Monroe transfer, on a 31-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to make the score 17-5.
 
Orange was first to score as redshirt freshman Jordan Melucci, a UTEP transfer, hit a 36-yard field goal early in the first.
 
The score stayed 3-0 for the next 15 minutes until freshman Troop O'Neal, a Tulsa transfer, responded with a 36-yard field goal for White to tie the score at 3.
 
Orange added a safety from freshman Aaden Benjamin, a Houston-native from Shadow Creek High School, late in the third quarter to pull within 10-5.
 
The Vaqueros play their first-ever regular season game on Aug. 30 against Sul Ross State at Robert & Janet Vackar Stadium.

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