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SAN ANTONIO — Before the Harlingen Cardinals’ game against Austin Westlake, an Alamodome press box official wandered over to a gathering of reporters and declared he’d heard that Big Red’s terrorizing defensive end Mingo Rincon “was a stud.”

He and the thousands of others in attendance at the Alamo City landmark Friday undoubtedly did not leave disappointed.

Putting the cap on one of the more memorable careers for a Valley defender, Rincon showed why he was the heart and soul of the Cardinal Crush Defense with a performance that left fans and pundits with a clear understanding of who No. 90 was.

As Manny Gomez’s defense fought its collective guts out, Rincon time and again led the charges. But it wasn’t enough as the Cards’ season ended with a 42-13 defeat to the bigger and faster Chaparrals.

“I just told myself, ‘I’m going to leave it all on the field,’” Rincon said. “I told myself before every play that that could be my last play playing Cardinal Football. And, in my eyes, I think I did pretty good.”

Pretty good is an understatement.

Rincon easily made his mark over his three years before closing it out against the Chaps. After all, that was his forte: Making his presence felt.

Rincon finished with three sacks against Westlake to set the all-time Rio Grande Valley mark in the category with 28. He was in on tackle after tackle hurdling would-be blockers and giving the extra effort he gave for his entire prep career.

And serving as perhaps the perfect ribbon on a storybook career, Rincon and Gomez, two of the greatest defenders in HHS history, shared a 35-second embrace and some private words on the Alamodome turf afterward.

“Playing in my last football game’s a bad feeling,” Rincon said. “It’s not something you would want someone else to feel.”

On Friday, the Chaparrals did what they could to try and neutralize “Dr. Doom.” They double-teamed him. They went at him low. They went at him high. But the end result was the same as he wreaked havoc in the Westlake backfield so much that Chap QB Tanner Price could have visions of him for days.

But the throngs of Cardinal and Valley fans at the Dome saw him for the last time as a Red Bird. And, through it all, he noticed.

“I am touched to see everybody here supporting us. Me and my teammates are touched and honored to see all the community here supporting us,” Rincon said.

Afterward, he walked up a tunnel with his parents and got congratulatory fist pumps and handshakes. He gave them right back with a sly smile.

That’s Rincon. Making his mark. Just as he always did.

Armando Garza covers high school football for Valley Freedom Newspapers.