By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
San Antonio Central Catholic simply had too much offense for St. Joseph Academy to contain Friday at Canales Field as the Buttons prevailed over the Bloodhounds 44-8 in TAPPS district action.
The Bloodhounds (5-4, 1-3 district ) scored on their opening possession and led 8-0. But after that, things went downhill as the Buttons (6-3, 3-1) rallied to go ahead 30-8 by halftime.
“We started off pretty good, but we had a few injuries that kind of changed our game plan,” SJA coach Christian Putegnat said. “We were out of sync offensively. Defensively, we had a few blown (pass) coverages, but other than that I thought we did fairly well. We just can’t seem to get both sides of the ball clicking at the same time.
“We have to find a way to get back in sync,” Putegnat added. “We’ve got to work on that, but we’ll get there.”
Joseph Nava, Central Catholic’s senior quarterback, did the most damage against the Bloodhounds as he passed for 179 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for a game-best 122 yards. Four of Nava’s TD passes came during the opening half on plays covering 44, 5, 32 and 6 yards. Nava threw a 7-yard scoring strike near the end of the third quarter, giving him five TD passes on the night.
Central Catholic wide receiver Troy Lozano led his team with five receptions for 89 yards, including TD catches of 44 and 32 yards on deep passes.
For some reason, the Buttons opted to go for it on fourth-and-4 from their 29-yard line on their first possession to open the game. An incomplete pass turned the ball over to the Bloodhounds just 29 yards away from the end zone.
Four plays later, SJA sophomore running back Mario Garcia broke loose on a 12-yard scoring run and Jorge de la Garza rushed for the two-point conversion to give the Bloodhounds an 8-0 advantage with 10:01 showing on the scoreboard in the first quarter.
The Buttons came back to lead 14-8 by the end of the opening period and 30-8 at intermission. They led 37-8 after three quarters.
The Bloodhounds started the game with Conner Pace at QB because Kai Money was hampered by a shoulder injury. Both QBs played but clearly weren’t at their best. Pace suffered an apparent arm injury late in the game, and SJA finished the contest with Daniel Matar calling the signals.
Money was tackled in the end zone for a 3-yard loss and a safety at the 1:55 mark of the second period.
Garcia led the Bloodhounds with 73 yards rushing, 62 of them coming in the second half.
SJA closes out its regular-season schedule at 2 p.m. Nov. 8 at San Antonio Antonian.