NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — La Joya High started fast with a 73-yard touchdown run from quarterback J.R. Rodriguez and never looked back. Junior running back Eddie Villarreal hit the gaps hard for the next three scores as the Coyotes cruised to victory over the McAllen High Bulldogs at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium on Thursday night.
The Coyotes came out of the gates quick, scoring on their first play and first three drives, but slowed the pace to claim a 28-0 win.
La Joya improved to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in District 30-6A. McAllen High fell to 1-5 and 0-3.
Villarreal is up to 15 touchdowns on the season and Thursday’s win was his fourth three-touchdown performance of the year. His 150 yards on the ground was the third time he reached that plateau. The Coyotes opening game, against Roma, was his only game under 100 yards; he had 96.
All of his scores came from close range, two four-yard touchdowns and one from five yards out, something that was an area of concern a year ago.
“Last year we were having trouble punching it in,” Villarreal said. “This year we’ve worked more on punching it in. Last year, we would always drive it up but they would stop us around the 20. This year we fixed that, with our big linemen we just push them back and I just drive it in.”
The bruising junior is one touchdown away from doubling his eight scores in 2017 when he still rushed for 1,630 yards.
La Joya’s offensive line is the key to keeping the lanes open and making sure more of those drives end up in six.
“We’ve grown in staying composed and just executing all of our plays the best as we can,” senior center Damian Tanguma said. “We just bonded as the years passed by and we try to execute everything.”
Senior guard Jose Chavez, who stands at 6-foot-4-inches, says there’s no secret to the hard work and chemistry.
“We spend time together outside the field, on the field, in the locker rooms, in lunch,” Chavez said. “We’re always together, the team. We help each other out and practice hard every day.”
Chavez said the early score, just 24 seconds into the game, gave his unit an early boost.
“It builds us up man,” Chavez said. “We get more hype and we get more confident.”
Junior Alex Rodriguez said those early points are not an excuse to get cocky.
“It feels great but you have to stay composed and focus on the goal,” Rodriguez said. “Got to get ready for the next drive and never get too confident early in the game.”
Coyotes coach Reuben Farias tipped his hat to his line that led to a strong rushing night. La Joya had 302 yards on the ground.
“All of them have at least one or two years under their belt and they work together great,” Farias said. “They’re the base of our offense; they create the holes making it easier for Eddie to run. Even when we don’t get much of a push he finds the way to get some yards.”
La Joya High’s defense picked up the slack when its offense slowed between the third and fourth touchdowns.
Ian Delgado and Charlie Alvarez recorded sacks on Bulldogs quarterbacks. Delgado also came up with a fumble recovery.
McHi split the quarterback duties with both Brian Garza and Robert Amador seeing action. Amador completed the lone Bulldogs pass that went for positive yards, a 32-yard gain to Felipe Magana.
Last year McHi won this same district match-up on the road 35-9. The Coyotes bench boss said in addition to some major subtractions from the Bulldogs roster, his team is more refined and mature.
“First of all they don’t have (Aaron) Nixon and Gunnar (Henderson) those two young men are electric,” Farias said. “Offensively, in our respect, we’ve grown. We’ve worked together. I told the boys this could be a trap game after last week’s sensational win against Memorial. I challenged our boys we better be ready to play or their strong defensive line is going to set the tone.”