ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
LA FERIA — The La Feria Lions return a veteran team this football season with seven starters back on offense and seven on defense.
La Feria’s expectations for the 2018 season are pretty high after fielding a team that a year ago went 6-4 and shared the District 16-4A Division I title with Kingsville King.
The Lions flexed their muscles offensively and defensively Friday at home against Brownsville St. Joseph with a decisive victory in their first scrimmage of the new season.
In the first half’s controled portion of the scrimmage, the Lions outscored the Bloodhounds five times to one. In a second half played with game conditions, La Feria won 28-7.
“We looked extremely physical and we looked fast,” La Feria coach Oscar Salinas said. “I thought our conditioning was really good. We played well offensively and defensively.
“We looked pretty good with our first offensive and defensive units, so we’re really excited about that,” Salinas added. “We have a good nucleus of players coming back. All our players at skill positions are returning. It’s just a matter of replacing people in the offensive and defensive lines.
“With the returning skilled players we have, we felt we could move the ball tonight.”
St. Joseph coach Tino Villarreal said the Lions were playing “in mid-season form” on Friday night.
Two of the main scoring standouts for the Lions were quarterback Dorian Hernandez and wingback/running back Darius Hernandez. They are not related.
Early in the first half, Dorian Hernandez broke loose on a 70-yard scoring scamper. In a few minutes, he threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Darius Hernandez. The pair hooked up on a 9-yard scoring pass on the first TD of the second half.
Also, Dorian Hernandez sprinted 75 yards down the right sideline to the end zone to make it 21-0 in the second half and Darius Hernandez scored on a 3-yard run up the middle in the opening half.
Dario Sanchez, La Feria’s backup QB, ran around left end for 19 yards to the end zone in the first half and tossed a 48-yard TD pass in the second half.
Both of St. Joe’s TDs came on short runs by tailback Melik Kauachi, one score during each half.
La Feria plays its second scrimmage of the season at Brownsville Lopez next Thursday. Also next Thursday, St. Joe is at home against Brownsville Porter for its second scrimmage.