Kickoff return for touchdown fuels Rockets

St. Pius struggles to finish drives in matchup of 5A, 4A programs

The opening to St. Pius’ football season was not how head coach Dave Montoya drew it up.

Kicking off to Goddard, returner Connor Villalpando bobbled the ball just inside his 10, split a wedge of blockers, and broke tackle after tackle on his way to a 91-yard touchdown.

That early punch in the mouth propelled the visiting Class 5A Rockets to their second opening-day win in as many years over the Class 4A Sartans. They earned a 21-0 shutout at Nusenda Community Stadium on Saturday.

“We were trying to kick to the outside hash to the right or the outside left, but it went to the middle. It was just a disaster,” Montoya said. “The way we set up our coverage … we can’t kick it that way.”

While the Sartans’ defense proved stingy most of the game, not much went right on the offensive side of the ball.

Late in the first quarter — on its first sustained drive — St. Pius (0-1) fumbled the ball away inside the Rockets’ 25.

Later in the quarter, St. Pius’ Dominic Esparza picked off the first of his two passes near midfield.

On the first play of its following possession, though, St. Pius turned it back over to Goddard (1-0) with one of its two interceptions.

The missed opportunities for St. Pius mushroomed in the second half as Goddard muffed two punt returns giving St. Pius possession deep in Goddard territory, while Esparza’s second interception of the game set up the Sartans on Goddard’s side of the field.

Two of those St. Pius chances ended on downs, and the third by throwing an interception inside Goddard’s 10.

“I thought our kids, all in all, tackled well, and we definitely have things we can work on,” said Goddard coach Chris White, whose team beat St. Pius 48-13 in last year’s opener.

“St. Pius has what I consider a high-intensity offense, and they have some good playmakers. I think we did enough to limit their guys. We’d kind of bend but didn’t break, and we made some plays (on defense) that we were fortunate to make.”

Sammy Zarogoza, who didn’t carry the ball for Goddard in the opening quarter, still rushed for 152 yards on 13 attempts, and he capped the scoring with a 67-yard dash midway through the fourth quarter.

“I thought we were in it the whole way,” Montoya said. “Offensively, we’ll have to figure some things out.”