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In the the third quarter Friday night, the Refugio Bobcats’ coach wasn’t feeling any easier.
After capitalizing on three St. Joseph turnovers in the first 12:15 of the game, Refugio saw its 21-0 lead dwindle to nine points in the third quarter before staving off the Flyers’ comeback bid and taking a 34-12 victory in the season opener for both teams.
“We scheduled St. Joseph for a reason,” Herring said. “They are very well-coached, well-disciplined and they like to play smash-mouth football. We knew it would be a war.”
Kevin Daniels’ 44-yard pass to tight end Luke Dornak set up Kamen Ruelas’ 5-yard touchdown that pulled the Flyers within 21-6 with 2:58 left before halftime.
St. Joseph put together a 14-play, 61-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter to close the gap to 21-12. John Paul Dubose’s 28-yard run on a third-and-23 draw play led to Andre Del Bosque’s 8-yard scoring pass to Dornak. A run for two points failed, but the Flyers had seized the momentum with 2:34 left in the third quarter.
“That’s very characteristic of these kids,” St. Joseph coach John Mares said. “These kids aren’t about to lay down and die.”
Refugio regained the momentum in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Cory Brown’s 29-yard punt return set in motion a six-play, 51-yard touchdown march that ended on Kyle Hendley’s 8-yard pass to wide receiver Brian Raimirez.
Hendley completed 18 of 29 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns in his first varsity start. He was 10 of 11 for 68 yards in the second half.
“At the beginning, it was kind of nerve-racking,” Hendley said. “But after a while, the nerves went away. It was pretty exciting.”
Ramirez, who also scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter, picked off a Del Bosque pass on St. Joseph’s next play from scrimmage and ran 29 yards for a touchdown that sealed the victory the Bobcats, who began the season ranked No. 10 in Class 2A.
Ramirez’s interception was the Flyers’ fourth turnover of the game. Each St. Joseph turnover resulted in touchdowns for the Bobcats.
“The good thing about it is all our mistakes are easily correctable,” Mares said. “We’ll come out of this thing looking for a better Friday night.”
A vicious hit by Bo Adams jarred Flyers punt returner Dubose of the ball and the Bobcats’ Ysidro Gonzales pounced on it at the St. Joseph 17. On the next play, Hendley threw a scoring strike to wide receiver Irvin Fox in the right corner of the end zone. Eric Martinez’s first of two extra points put the Bobcats up 7-0 with 5:42 left in the first quarter.
Interceptions set up Refugio’s next two scores. Brown picked off a Daniels pass and returned it 10 yards to the Flyers’ 17. Four plays later, Ramirez scored from the 1.
Travis Martino intercepted Daniels’ next pass at the St. Joseph 33. Three plays later, Hendley threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to running back Terrence Smith as the Bobcats jumped out to a 21-0 lead with 15 seconds gone in the second quarter.
Ruelas finished with 131 yards rushing, including 97 in the first half. St. Joseph finished with 223 yards on the ground.
“We had our chances,” Mares said. “We were moving the ball well. But the little things come back and bite you and they bit us pretty hard.”
Rushing – St. Joseph, Kamen Ruelas 23-131; John Villafranca 10-60; John Paul Dubose 4-56; Andre Del Bosque 3-(-3); Kevin Daniels 5-(-21). Refugio, Terrence Smith 3-43; Aaron Perez 2-13; Damien Crayton 3-3; Brian Ramirez 1-1; Cory Brown 1-(-1); Christian Espindola 1-(-5).
Passing – St. Joseph, Daniels 1-5-2, 44; Del Bosque 1-5-1, 8; Villafranca 0-1-0. Refugio, Kyle Hendley 19-29-1, 181.
Receiving – St. Joseph, Luke Dornak, 2-42. Refugio, Ramirez 8-62; Irvin Fox 3-32; Espindola 2-33; Smith 2-8; Brown 1-28; Jourdan Ortiz 1-28; Bryan Castellano 1-(-5).