La Cueva avenges loss to Cleveland
Bears make up for last season’s 38-37 defeat with resounding win over Storm
Almost 12 months to the day, the La Cueva Bears got their payback. Emphatic payback.
A year after a narrow and crushing loss at Cleveland, the Bears swarmed the Storm on Thursday night, the defense leading the way in a lopsided and extremely convincing 30-7 victory at Wilson Stadium.
“We came out salty about last year’s
game,” said senior linebacker Derek Loidolt, the heavy hitter on that relentless La Cueva defense. “We knew what we had to do, and we were focused all week at practice.”
Few opponents have ever roughed Cleveland up the way La Cueva did Thursday night, as the Bears delighted their huge homecoming crowd.
“We came out with some attitude,” Bears coach Brandon Back said.
Forget about the second half. This game was decided over the first 24 minutes.
Over the course of two breathtaking quarters, the Bears defense manhandled Cleveland, throttling the Storm at every turn and overwhelming Cleveland in just about every way.
The 23-0 score seemed about as final as a halftime score could be in a showdown game like this. The numbers spoke volumes.
By halftime, La Cueva’s offense had 256 yards and a dozen first downs.
Cleveland had one first down (by penalty) and minus-7 yards of total offense.
“Our motto is when we arrive, we arrive with violence,” Back said. “And they’ve taken control of that.”
The Bears led 10-0 in the first quarter. Quarterback Dylan Summer threw 13 yards to Reece Wilkinson for a touchdown, and Dominic Camacho added a short field goal.
La Cueva (2-0) scored on its first two possessions of the second quarter as well, with Summer scoring on a 2-yard run and also throwing a 49-yard TD pass to Seth Beller.
D’Andre Williams’ 23-yard score early in the fourth quarter made it 30-0.
The only reason this wasn’t a shutout was because of a 5-yard punt from its end zone late in the fourth quarter that gave Cleveland the ball at the La Cueva 12. The Storm (1-1) scored its only points with 1:32 left as it avoided being shut out for just the third time in program history. But that TD came with the Bears’ first-team defense smiling from the sideline.
Summer threw for 202 of his 261 yards in the first half. Another key defender was free safety Hunter Cardiff, who intercepted two passes.
“This is most definitely a statement game,” Cardiff said.
“For everybody,” added Loidolt. — James Yodice
WEST MESA 27, ST. PIUS 14: At Nusenda Community Stadium, the Class 6A Mustangs used a punishing ground attack and a few big plays to knock off the defending 5A state champions.
Junior running back Mark Garcia led the Mustangs with 32 carries for 127 hard-earned yards and TD runs of 5, 4 and 3 yards. Junior running back Carlos Ruiz had 95 yards on eight carries and a 55-yard scoring romp that put the Mustangs (2-0) up 20-0 in the opening minute of the second quarter.
West Mesa scored on its opening drive that Garcia capped with his 5-yard TD.
The Sartans (1-1) had a number of opportunities to make it a game in the first half, but miscues flip-flopped field position.
The first big turnaround came when St. Pius sophomore quarterback Diego Pavia hit receiver Isaiah Griffin for a 32-yard gain, but Griffin fumbled and West Mesa recovered.
Although the Mustangs went threeand-out, junior punter Camren Schroer launched a 66-yard punt to the St. Pius 3. The Mustangs then forced a threeand-out and scored three plays later on another Garcia TD.
Down 13-0, Pavia hit wide-open receiver Ryan McGaha down the middle for a would-be score but McGaha couldn’t make the catch. On the next play, the Mustangs’ Carlos Ruiz made a juggling interception. Two plays later, JJ Ruiz was racing the other way for a big score.
Pavia had a solid night, but the Sartans’ ground game was stuffed with just 12 yards on 16 carries.