By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
LYFORD – The St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds continued their road tour to open the 2016 football season with another successful result.
Playing their second of three straight games on the road to begin the season, the Bloodhounds improved to 2-0 with Friday’s 30-7 non-district victory over the Lyford Bulldogs.
SJA junior quarterback Kai Money highlighted things on offense for the Bloodhounds by passing for a pair of touchdowns and rushing for another score.
In a game that was expected to showcase some offensive fireworks on both sides, the Bloodhounds’ defense came up with important stops at the right times to limit the Bulldogs to only one score, which came on a long pass play with just 16 seconds left in the first half as SJA was already up 17-0.
“These are the types of games we have to be in (and win) if we want to be a better football team,” Bloodhounds coach Tino Villarrel said. “(Lyford) Coach (Jaime) Infante picked up his 100th win last week, and he has a good ballclub. They play hard and they have a stingy defense.
“A lot of people would have said that on the over/under for this game there would probably be a combined 100 points or more on the scoreboard (because of the offensive prowess of each team),” Villarreal added. “We ended up with far less than 50, so it was a defensive battle (both ways). They exposed us a little bit and I felt we exposed them, too. We walk away from here with a hard-fought win and a lot of clear indications of what we need to work on to get better.”
SJA went up 7-0 on a 28-yard TD pass from Money to Andres Martinez with 9:10 showing in the first quarter. It became 10-0 on the second play of the second quarter when Jose Kauachi nailed a 22-yard field goal for the Bloodhounds.
Money broke loose on a 49-yard scoring run with 3:05 left in the half to make it 17-0 before Lyford QB Chase Hinojosa found Frank Moreno open on a 41-yard scoring strike before the break.
Later for SJA, Anthony Cantu scored on 1-yard run up the middle at the 5:25 mark of the third quarter and Bernie de la Garza caught a 27-yard TD pass from Money in the final period with 5:00 left to play.
SJA, who picked up a 64-35 triumph against Grulla in Rio Grande City in Week 1, next visits Rio Hondo on Friday as the Bloodhounds play their third straight road game.
Lyford, 59-6 winners in a home victory last week over Progreso, will play at Raymondville next Friday in a renewal of the “Cotton Bowl” rivalry.
Infante picked up career win No. 100 at Lyford during the Bulldogs’ triumph over the Red Ants.
The Bloodhounds defeated Lyford 73-22 last year in Brownsville.
SJA plays its home opener Sept. 16 against Raymondville.
“We have one more road game and it’s going to be just as tough, if not tougher, than this one tonight,” Villarreal said. “(Rio Hondo coach) Rocky James and the Bobcats are going to give us a lot of trouble. We know that. But we’re just going to take it one week at a time.”