By JESUS SANCHEZ | Staff Writer
Down 28-0 during the third quarter, the St. Joseph Bloodhounds mounted a small comeback, scoring twice after making adjustments.
In the end, though, the Hidalgo Pirates held on to win 28-13.
“ We came to play,” Hidalgo coach Monty Stumbaugh said. “We’re a young team and I know St. Joe is a young team, but they played hard, they got after it. We came out first half and moved the ball.
“ In the second half, we had one good drive then we kind of spiraled off a little bit, and then we fumbled. (However,) I was really proud with their effort.”
St. Joseph (1-5) took a chance when it swapped usual starting quarterback Tomas Edge with freshman Luigi Cristiano, and it almost paid off.
Bloodhounds coach Tino Villarreal said at halftime, the team was told to get things going in the second half.
“ We needed a little spark,” Villarreal said. “We got after that in the second half. I think that moving the ball offensively lifts everybody’s energy and spirits. Our defense has always been good and we’re confident behind. … It’s tough when you’re out there a lot, but in the second half we were able to get some first downs and move the chains, and I think that makes a big difference.”
On his first drive, Cristiano led the ’Hounds 66 yards, eventually finding the end zone on a 12-yard pass to Pablo Zolezzi. Cristiano struck once more with a 96-yard drive and another pass to Zolezzi, this time for 9 yards, in the end zone to add six more points for St. Joseph.
“ He came in and, sometimes, when you put someone in that isn’t ready to go in, it’s a coin toss on how they’re going to do,” Villarreal said. “Tonight, we were just fortunate that he was able to light the spark that we needed to get us motivated, to put us in the game, and it brought a little bit of excitement.”
The freshman quarterback said he did what he was told, which allowed the team to move the ball more during the second half. Cristiano finished the game with 129 passing yards and one interception.
“ It was a great team effort after a bad first half,” he said. “We came back and played a really good second half, just like we were asked to.”
Despite the small rally, the Pirates (2-4) executed defensively and offensively and, ultimately, stopped the ’Hounds in their tracks.
The Pirates hit paydirt first after a 20-yard pass from Angel Lopez to Kyle Perales during the first quarter. Lopez added a 1-yard quarterback keeper two drives later.
“ I thought we ran the ball well, and I thought we threw and caught the ball well,” Stumbaugh said. “We made some nice throws and some nice catches. Angel had a good game throwing and we were able to complete some big passes on third downs, so that was huge.”
The Pirates were not done, either.
With 14 seconds left in the half, Hidalgo’s Zachary Carrera ran in from 6 yards out to increase the visiting team’s lead to 19-0. A pass from Lopez to Jose Figueroa made it 21-0 at halftime.
“ It was a pretty good (win),” Carrera said. “It’s been a long time since Hidalgo has won. We’re hoping to take another (win) at Zapata for the Pirates.”
Hidalgo added the final dagger after a 6-yard rush by Figueroa with 4:23 left in the third.
St. Joseph will have two weeks to regroup before it turns its focus to the Corpus Christi John Paul II Centurions in its first district game of the season. Hidalgo will battle Zapata next week in its first district bout.