RIO HONDO — Marco Garate gave the homecoming crowd plenty to smile about Friday night at Bobcat Stadium, rushing for 233 yards and two touchdowns to guide the Rio Hondo Bobcats to a comfortable 40-0 win over the Grulla Gators.
“The team played great football on both sides of the ball and I think the overall effort was just unbelievable,” said Rio Hondo head coach Rocky James. “I think this is probably the best game we’ve played so far this year as a whole. I think the offense had over 400 yards rushing again, very hard to do against a good Grulla team.”
“It was just something the kids had been doing all week; they beat us last year 30-0 so we need some payback here at home.”
On his first carry of the night Garate broke loose on a 94 yard run that gave the Bobcats an early 6-0 lead with 7:35 left in the first quarter.
On the next possession Rio Hondo’s Joshua Gonzalez scrambled for a 13 yard touchdown run capping a nine play drive, which began at their 32 yard line, giving the home side a 13-0 lead with 1:54 left in the first.
Gonzalez, Elijah Pitones, and Garate would add three more touchdowns to the scoreboard before the half, as the Bobcats began to pull away 34-0.
Garate had 176 yards on 15 carries the before the half, while Grulla’s offense had just under 40 yards.
“It feels great and want to thank my offensive line and coaches that are doing a great job teaching me what I do and moving forward and getting all the yards that I can,” said Garate.
The Gator offense struggled though out the night totaling 120 yards in the game; a testament to the Bobcat defense that forced three fumbles and an interception on the evening.
“I think we had them under 100 yards before they got that one run on us,” said coach James. “I was a tremendous night, I don’t know what it ended up being but we were number three in the valley before tonight’s game so hopefully it gets us to second or to first.”
“We have a lot of pride in our defense here in Rio Hondo so were shooting for number one in the Valley.”
With the win the Bobcats improve to 4-1 and get ready to begin district play in two weeks against West Oso on the road in Corpus Christi.
The loss gives Grulla an 0-5 start to the season as they prepare to travel to La Feria to begin district play on October 10th.