DAVID GONZALEZ | Special to the Star
RIO HONDO — The Hidalgo Pirates (1-2) entered Friday night’s game at Bobcat Stadium to face a Rio Hondo squad looking to make their presence felt as they inch closer to district play.
Mission accomplished as the Cats rolled to an easy 30-0 win.
The Bobcats (2-1) scored early on their opening drive when quarterback Daniel Flores capped it off with a 15-yard touchdown pass to receiver Josue Garza.
After a pair of stops from both the Bobcats and Pirates defenses, the Bobcats offense would make it 14-0 as Flores threw a 24-yard strike to Joshua Gonzalez for a TD in the second quarter.
Rio Hondo would squib the ensuing kickoff and recover it to set up a 40-yard field goal attempt that was blocked. However, the Rio Hondo special teams unit would make the best of the situation and tackled a Hidalgo player who attempted to return the kick out of the end zone for a safety to put the Cats up 16-0.
The Rio Hondo defense played big in the first half as it held the Bulldogs to only 25 total yards without allowing a completion and just one first down.
The Bobcats extended their lead going into the half as Rio Hondo’s other QB, Jesse Atkinson, connected with Santiago Mendoza to make it 23-0.
The final score came late in the fourth quarter as Flores found Garza again for a 40-yard touchdown that sealed the 30-0 win.
Flores would complete 8 of 25 of his passes for 143 yards and 3 TDs with one interception. He also rushed 20 times for 105 yards.
“I thought we played a great game finally. I’ve been waiting for this for the last three to four weeks, we hadn’t played a complete game,” said Bobcats head coach Rocky James. “Today our special teams played great and our offense and defense played tremendous.”
Rio Hondo did not allow Hidalgo QB Pedro Quiroz to complete any of his 17 passing attempts for positive yardage in the entire game and held the Pirates to only 81 total yards, all which game on the ground.