“La Villa’s a tough team with football history. Those kids (Cardinals) play hard,” said coach Garcia. “From a coaching stand point, regardless of the uniform, I was real proud of the La Villa kids and I was proud of our kids as well.
“This is what high school football should be about. I know coach (Joe) Salinas is real proud of his kids as well.”
Senior Wally Olivarez rushed for 155 yards and had the go-ahead touchdown for the Warriors, but it was teammate Randy Reyna who sealed the victory for the team when he intercepted a pass from Cardinals quarterback Macario Perez with 1:13 left in the fourth.
“It feels good to finally win it (the trophy) at home and to keep the trophy for two years in a row, which hasn’t been done in a while,” said Olivarez.
“The defense really stepped it up in the second half. In the first half we made a lot of mistakes and we gave them a few big plays, but in the second half we really buckled down, hit them in the mouth, and played Warrior defense.”
With 6:40 left in the second quarter, Cardinals quarterback Macario Perez launched a 37-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Salazar that stunned the home crowd and gave La Villa an early 6-0 lead that held until halftime.
But the Warriors defense held its ground in the second half creating four turnovers and holding the Cardinals to 60 total yards of offense.
“Our defense kept us in the ball game, “ said coach Garcia. “I think we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit by letting some points on the board, but that’s high school football.
“If we would have given up 21 points in the first half it’s a different ball game, but the fact that we only gave up six kept us in the game.”
With the win the Warriors improve to 2-2 and will face Hidalgo on Sept. 26. The Cardinals fall to 1-3 and will host Bruni (3-1) at home next week.