By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
RIO HONDO—After the Bobcat Varsity Football Team’s 38-35 victory over the Raymondville Bearkats last week, the squad now faces the Goliad Tigers in the first round of the Class 3A Division I playoffs.
The Bobcats finished second in District 16-3A Division I with a 5-1 record and 9-1 overall. Their lone blemish was a 22-21 loss to San Diego (5-1, 8-2) the previous week.
The Bobcats’ opponent now, Goliad, was a team that went 5-5 during the regular season and finished third in District 15-3A.
However, they are a team that has been accustomed to playing three rounds into the playoffs for the past three years and beat RHHS in bi-district a year before that, 60-10.
But the Tigers needed to win their last three district games (111-49 points combined) against West Oso, Mathis, and Aransas Pass to qualify. They allowed their opponents to score, which will bode well for the Bobcats, whose offense has been impressive for years.
That was never more obvious than when they scored on three of their five first-half drives against Raymondville, which spent most of the game playing catch-up on the scoreboard.
The Bearkats received the first-half kickoff and took a 7-0 lead after a 12-play drive. They punted twice and were intercepted once by Rolando Pastrana before scoring again.
The Bobcats, seeking to avenge a loss to the same team a year ago, didn’t let up.
It took only six plays for the Bobcats to tie on a fourth-down one-yard run by Robert Adame.
RHHS took the lead for good on another six-play drive, culminating in quarterback Matthew Lopez’s nine-yard pass to receiver Sebastian Gonzalez.
The Bobcats took a 21-7 lead after Lopez’s two-yard jaunt.
Head Coach Rocky James had said earlier in the season that sometimes the team makes matters difficult for themselves, allowing opponents to stay close.
Of the five penalties called in the first half, including personal foul, pass interference, and holding, the Bobcats committed all of them.
Fortunately for RHHS, the defense stymied Raymondville again in the second half. The offense did the rest, scoring on its opening third-quarter drive when running back Mario Lopez threw a TD pass to receiver Michael Lopez. The Bobcats were facing third and 18 on the play.
For the game, quarterback Lopez threw for 193 yards, completing 14-of-31 passes. He had two TDs and was intercepted once.
Receiver Gonzalez had two TDs.
Running back Lopez had only 10 carries but scored twice. He rushed for 35 yards, with his longest run a 20-yard carry.
Kicker Hector Vargas successfully kicked five point-after attempts and made a 38-yard field goal that gave the Bobcats a 10-point lead in the third quarter.
On defense, Pastrana and Ty Alaniz each had at least 20 tackles. Alaniz had a couple of sacks, and Ramsey Gonzalez had one sack.
The RHHS defense allowed Raymondville to gain 257 yards passing and 146 yards rushing.
Over the past two seasons, the Bobcats played London in bi-district, and each team won. The Bobcats advanced to the second round two years ago and again in 2019.