MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
After falling to Rio Hondo 35-28 last week, the St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds are looking to rebound against another challenger from District 16-4A Division II when they meet Raymondville for a 7:30 p.m. matchup tonight at Burnett Stadium.
A trip to Raymondville tonight and an away game at Port Isabel coming up next week, SJA will have faced three Class 4A playoff teams from a year ago in as many weeks.
It’s a tough stretch, but Bloodhounds coach Tino Villarreal said a stretch like that is exactly what his team needs to grow and has seen flashes of that after falling behind early in last week’s loss.
“We have to learn to compete, but I think we’ve done a good job,” Villarreal said. “We had some bad special teams that took the momentum away from us against Rio Hondo. It became a two-score game and a young team like mine could have folded up shop and given up. We came out and gave Rio Hondo everything we had in the second half and learned to compete. Now, we have to learn to finish.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to be playing teams like Rio Hondo and Raymondville,” he added. “They’re solid teams that we have a lot of respect for. The reason we kept them on the schedule despite them being four or five times our size is because they’re the only teams that will get us ready for our district.”
Both teams come in with 2-1 records and the ability to score as SJA is averaging 34 points per game, while Raymondville has recorded 28 per outing.
For St. Joseph, it starts with running back Melik Kauachi, who has rushed for 592 yards and five touchdowns, including a pair of 200-yard games this season.
That, plus a solid start for quarterback Luigi Cristiano (30-69-1, 437 yards, 4 TDs) has contributed to an offense averaging 439 yards per outing.
Villarreal is looking for more of that this week, but says it will be up to his offensive line to get a solid push against the Bearkat front.
“Raymondville has a strong defense that will blitz us a lot,” Villarreal said. “I believe the main matchup will be our offensive line against their box. We have to halt the blitz at the line and not allow penetration and control the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for the fans, we’re going to be in a shootout.”
Raymondville head coach Frank Cantu believes the best defense for SJA’s explosive offense is methodical possessions from his team.
“St. Joseph is very explosive on offense,” Raymondville head coach Frank Cantu said. “They have some good weapons, so we’re trying to put the best game plan to try and contain them. I would really like to have long drives on offense ourselves and keep them off the field. I think we have to do well on third downs and our defense has to get off the field. We have to give our offense opportunities to get on the field for those long drives.”
The Bearkats are coming off a 42-0 win over Lyford that saw Zaraivion Armendarez score three rushing touchdowns and teammate Justin Cantu add two more.
The Bloodhounds are hoping to blanket Armendarez and force Cantu and junior quarterback Jarod Cavazos to take the reins.
“Obviously we have to keep an eye out for No. 7 (Armendarez),” Villarreal said. “He’s their playmaker. We know he’s going to get the ball and they want him to get the ball. In order for us to be successful tomorrow, we have to make the other guys beat us, but not him. We’ve been focusing on trying to contain him and we’ll be happy if he’s used as a decoy tomorrow. We wouldn’t mind that, just as I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if Melik Kauachi was our decoy.”