After spending the past two years in Santa Rosa, the golden trophy is heading to La Villa after the Cardinals (1-3) rushed their way to a 43-25 victory over Santa Rosa (0-3) on Friday night in the Valley Morning Star’s Game of the Week.
“It’s huge. It’s the Battle of Highway 107 and with all the hype,” said La Villa head coach Shawn Alvarez after the win.
“We were winless, we hadn’t won a game, and we played a lot of really good teams. Santa Rosa’s a really good football team and we knew we were going to have to play a really good game. We’re finally getting it and playing some defense.”
Senior quarterback Macario “Mac” Perez led his team with 175 yards rushing and three touchdowns while passing for 49 yards and one touchdown.
With two seconds left in the first half, La Villa’s Perez took the ball on a quarterback keeper and dove at the pylon on the north side of the stadium scoring his most defining touchdown of the night.
“He is a heck of an athlete,” said Alvarez about his quarterback. “But I’ll tell you what, he’s becoming a heck of a leader. He commands the offense well and the kids really believe in him. They trust him and he’s done a great job.
“We know he can play football, but it’s a matter of can he lead the team and he stepped up today and did what he had to do making some crucial plays punching it in.”
It wasn’t his 86-yard TD scramble that opened the scoring and it wasn’t the 49-yard TD pass to Christian Perez that set Mac Perez apart on Friday. It was the diving touchdown as time expired in the half that proved Perez’s desire to win the game. And it couldn’t have come against a better opponent.
“We came into this game with a chip on our shoulder and we had a lot to prove,” said Perez. “Defensively we played well in the second half and we stepped it up and got the win.
“If feels good to bring it (trophy) back since it hadn’t been here (La Villa’s) in two years.”
After Perez’ 86-yard touchdown run, Santa Rosa came right back and scored on a six-play, 61-yard touchdown drive to pull the Warriors to within one at 7-6.
Unfazed, the Cardinals stuck fast and extended the lead to 13-6 after Mac Perez found Christian Perez on 49-yard touchdown pass.
As the first half came to a close it was clear both teams had come to play.
At the half La Villa had accumulated 319 total offensive yards, while holding the Warriors to 137 yards.
In the second half La Villa’s hard-nosed offense continued to run at the Warriors defense and chewed up eight minutes off the clock in the third quarter, capping things off with another touchdown to widen the lead 35-25.
Another player with a night to remember was senior Ramiro Cantu. The fullback rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries.
Next up for the Cardinals is a trip to Bruni. Meanwhile Santa Rosa takes on Hidalgo.