By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
What began as an apparently easy win going away for the St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds became an improbable comeback victory for the Rio Hondo Bobcats.
Rio Hondo trailed 27-0 with barely a minute gone in the second quarter before tying the score at 27-27 and 34-34 and rallying to pull out a 52-48 non-district triumph Friday at Canales Field.
It was the first win of the season for the Bobcats (1-1), who were coming off last week’s 36-33 loss at La Joya Juarez-Lincoln.
“It was a great comeback,” Rio Hondo coach Rocky James said. “I thought my team might shut it down when we trailed 27-0, but we came back.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a game like this one,” James added. “It was back and forth. I was worried that the last team with the ball was going to win, but in this case, it didn’t happen.
“It was a great win for the Rio Hondo Bobcats, and it’s something we can build upon.”
On the other side of the field, SJA coach Tino Villarreal was shaking his head.
“I think we have a real good team if we can just put together four quarters,” Villarreal said. “I’m at a loss (for words). Hats off to Rio Hondo.”
SJA led 20-0 after one quarter and 27-20 at intermission. It was deadlocked 34-34 going into the fourth quarter.
At the end, trailing 52-48, the Bloodhounds (1-2) drove to the Rio Hondo 8-yard line in the final minute before a penalty took them back to the 17. From there, SJA failed to connect on two pass attempts and surrendered the ball on downs with five seconds left to the Bobcats, who ran one play to run out the clock and walk away with an unlikely victory.
Rio Hondo quarterback Tyler Bush rushed for a game-high 188 yards and two touchdowns on runs of 70 and three yards while throwing TD passes of 10 yards to Ruben Hernandez, seven yards to Erik Pizarro and eight yards to Cross Gonzalez.
The eight-yarder to Gonzalez with 3:20 left gave the Bobcats the lead, 52-48, for only the second time in the game and stood up as the final score.
Rio Hondo tailback Adrian Torres rushed for 104 yards with TD runs of seven, eight and five yards.
SJA had trailed 46-41 with 8:25 remaining on Torres’ third TD run of five yards. But the Bloodhounds’ Pablo Zolezzi caught a 38-yard scoring pass from QB Kai Money to put SJA back into the lead at 48-46 with 7:24 to go before Gonzalez’s eight-yard TD reception gave the Bobcats the lead for good 52-48.
On the night, Money rushed for 160 yards and had scoring runs of 85 and 40 yards while throwing TD passes of 30 and 38 yards to Zolezzi, 90 and 12 yards to Keaton Cackley and 15 yards to Andres Martinez.
The Bloodhounds were coming off last week’s 58-8 win at home against Lyford.
Next Friday, SJA plays its first road game of the season at Raymondville, while Rio Hondo plays its home opener against Hidalgo.