Cardinals’ youth shows
Lindsay sees game slip away in second half
Lindsay High School’s youth and inexperience was highlighted in Friday night‘s lopsided 36-7 football loss to Exeter in the Cardinals season opener at home.
The Cardinals (0-1) came out strong in the first half, converting a first-quarter interception by senior defensive back, Chris Orozco, on Exeter’s second drive of the game, into a touchdown by senior running back Ethan Duran for a 7-0 lead. But after that, the offense couldn’t put together a drive and punted the rest of the half.
Down just 14-7 after the first half thanks to two rushing touchdowns from Exeter’s Isaiah Urban, Lindsay’s defense fell apart. Missed tackles and missed recoveries on fumbles hurt them.
In the third quarter, the Monarchs (1-0) scored on all three of their possession, starting with a field goal set up by an Urban interception from Lindsay’s senior quarterback, Ernie Bautista.
A safety six seconds later gave the Monarchs a 19-7 lead four minutes into the quarter.
“Coming out in the second half and we turn the ball over on the 2-yard line and then we catch a kickoff and run out of bounds at the 1 and we set them up perfectly for two scores,” said LHS head coach Matt Mendonca. “That’s what changed. Changed the whole momentum of the football game. Those two plays just buried us.”
After the safety, Exeter continued to use its run game heavily and took the ball from Lindsay’s 48 to the 23-yard line for another field goal.
A fumble by Duran after a bad handoff from QB Bautista led to another Monarch touchdown to end the third quarter 29-7.
Duran took nearly every single snap for the Cardinals and Bautista was able to complete just three passes for 70 yards, all in the first quarter.
Exeter scored its last touchdown with two minutes left in the fourth quarter for the final score of the game.
“We can’t be making a lot of dumb mistakes to put ourselves in disadvantaged positions,” said Mendonca. “We need to be more consistent with executing our plays and guys need to be on the same page.”
Although they suffered a tough loss, Mendonca and his coaches understand that they are playing with a young team. The team graduated nearly their entire starting line on both sides of the ball.
“It’s week one, nobody really knows each other,” Mendonca said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that never played varsity football before so
we got a long way, but I saw some good things out here.”
Lindsay looks to bounce back on Sept. 1 when they travel to Avenal for a 7:30 p.m. game.
Strathmore 42 Farmersville 6
The defending Valley champion Strathmore High School football team reached the end zone early and often in their season opener at Farmersville.
The Spartans (1-0), returning a majority of the squad from last year’s title team, overpowered and outmanned the Aztecs on the way to a dominating
42-6 win Friday night.
Strathmore led 21-0 after the first quarter and pushed it to 35-0 at halftime. The second half was played with a running clock. The Spartans did not attempt a pass in the game.
Senior running back Joseph Garcia, who did not play the first quarter, led SHS on the ground, gaining 115 yards on three carries including touchdown runs of 63 and 25 yards.
Damian Valencia started the scoring with a 10 yard TD run, followed by rushing touchdowns from Alonzo Acevedo and Noah Alcantar of 1 and 2 yards, respectively.
Senior quarterback Nick Salas ran 18 yards for a score.
Acevedo had three carries for 96 yards and Fabian Alcantar had 57 yards on three carries.
Strathmore held Farmersville (0-1) to 184 total yards. The Aztecs scored on the final play of the game.
Strathmore’s Noah Alcantar, Valencia and Josue Topete each had six tackles and one tackle for a loss. Andrew Bravo had one interception.
The Spartans host Templeton at home next week.