Bulldogs’ ground game chews up Hornets
CALIPATRIA — Calexico High School’s football team turned to junior running back Christopher Gonzalez to carry the load against Calipatria, and he delivered with two first-quarter rushing touchdowns to spark the Bulldogs to a 30-8 victory at Veteran’s Field here on Friday.
After last week’s frustrating 6-0 loss to crosstown rival Vincent Memorial, the Bulldogs (2-2 overall) revamped their offense, and it was working to perfection in the opening quarter against the Hornets (1-3 overall).
After recovering a Calipatria fumble at the Hornets 30-yard line with 8:03 left in the quarter, Gonzalez went to work the next two plays, rushing for 10 on the first play and then rumbling 20 yards for the touchdown at the 7:41 mark to put Calexico ahead 8-0 after the two-point conversion.
On the Bulldogs’ next possession, they went on a 16-play, 78yard march down the field that ended with a 24-yard Gonzalez touchdown run. Quarterback Raymond Ontiveros ran in the two-point conversion and Calexico was ahead 16-0 at the end of the first period.
“All the credit has to go to the linemen,” said the 16-year-old Gonzalez, who finished the night with a game-high 153 yards rushing on 19 carries. “They open the holes and they make me look good.”
Calipatria got its offense going in the second quarter with two long drives that stalled once it got into the red zone. With 7:15 to go in the half, the Hornets turned the ball over on downs after an 11-play drive stalled at the Bulldogs’ 21-yard line.
On their next possession, the Hornets went on a 12-play drive that got down to Calexico’s 6-yard line before fizzling out as the halftime horn sounded.
“What killed us on each drive is when players decided to go out and do things on their own,” said Calipatria coach Mike Swearingen. “When our players do what we’ve coached them to do, we execute and we move the ball. When we don’t do what we’re coached, we fail.”
The Hornets rushed for more than 200 yards on the night but couldn’t punch one in the end zone. Their only score of the night came early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Ismael Lopez lofted a pass that was tipped into the hands of teammate Nolan Ange who raced down the sideline 41-yards for the touchdown.
After Xavier Banaga ran in the two-point conversion, the Hornets had drawn closer at 22-8 with 9:20 left in the game.
Calexico wrapped things up on the ensuing possession with an 11-play, 56-yard drive that ended with an Ontiveros 1-yard plunge into the end zone. He ran in the two-point conversion as well and sealed the game, putting the Bulldogs up 30-8 with just more than four minutes left.
“We switched things up (after the Vincent Memorial game) and went with more up-tempo offense and focused on the no huddle,” said Ontiveros, a senior. “Our coaches really helped us learn from the mistakes we made last week and get things corrected tonight.”
Calexico coach John Tyree said the offense was simplified this week after struggling against the Scots.
“He (Ontiveros) has never been a varsity quarterback before and he really improved tonight,” said Tyree, now in his third season in charge of the Bulldogs. “We tried to put him in position with an offense that he can succeed in, and he did that tonight.”
Calexico is off next week before returning to the gridiron in Yuma on Sept. 21 to face Kofa in a non-league matchup. Calipatria travels to Bermuda Dunes to take on Desert Christian Academy at 7 p.m. on Friday.