By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
There were plenty of touchdowns to go around Friday as St. Joseph Academy scrimmaged Rio Hondo at Canales Field.
It was the first football scrimmage of the season for each team.
Rio Hondo won the controlled portion of the scrimmage 3-2 before the teams tied with a pair of TDs apiece during two quarters of limited game conditions. During the controlled portion, each ballclub was allowed to run 20 plays or so in a row twice. There was a brief halftime before the two quarters of game conditions were played.
“I was happy because I saw something I was looking for, which was (us) matching the level of aggressive play by the Rio Hondo Bobcats,” SJA coach Tino Villarreal said. “(Rio Hondo) coach (Rocky) James coaches them well, and they always come to play hard-nosed football as everyone knows.
“I felt that we were able to match the level of Rio Hondo’s aggression,” Villarreal added. “I’d like to see a little more consistency in our play as far as the drives (on offense) go and our defense not giving up the big play as much. But overall, I’m pleased. We’re a lot better than we were last year at this time.”
Kai Money, SJA’s sophomore quarterback, threw TD passes of 5, 71 and 20 yards to wideout Bernie De La Garza. He also tossed a 6-yard scoring strike to Dave Lapeyre, another wide receiver.
Rio Hondo was led by QB Daniel Flores, who logged TDs on runs of 1 and 5 yards, and teammate Joshua Gonzalez also played QB and passed 8 yards to Albert Adames for his team’s first score before tallying a TD himself on a 3-yard keeper.
The other TD for the Bobcats was scored by running back Andy Vasquez on a 1-yard burst up the middle.
“I think we need to get in a little better shape,” James said. “We got a little winded chasing Kai Money all over the place. Kai did a tremendous job of getting out of a lot of pressure. I think we had him (nearly tackled) in the backfield about 10 or 12 times, and we just couldn’t catch him at all. Hats off to him and his team, because they’re going to be a pretty good ballclub this year.
“I was happy with my guys,” James added. “The effort was there. We just got a little winded because St. Joe likes to go no-huddle the whole time. Going two quarters of no-huddle this early in the season is very difficult for anybody.
“I feel that we saw a lot of good things from our team tonight.”
Rio Hondo next scrimmages at home against Valley View at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. SJA returns to Canales Field and next scrimmages against Lopez at 7 p.m. Friday.