LA FERIA – The La Feria Lions found themselves in a big hole early Friday, trailing the Alice Coyotes by three scores just 15 minutes into the contest.
After back-to-back touchdowns, the Lions saw the light at the end of the tunnel, cutting their once 20-point deficit to six.
The Coyotes shut the door on the Lions’ comeback hopes almost instantly, scoring three straight touchdowns during the final three minutes of the first half en route to a dominating 73-13 victory over La Feria in their District 16-4A DI opener at Lions Stadium.
“We’re not going to make excuses,” La Feria head coach Oscar Salinas said. “We had a lot of kids out sick this week. At the end of the day, they kicked our butts tonight. It was a good old country whooping. We have to learn from it and move on. There is nothing we can do about it. We have a lot of district games left to play. The kids just have to bounce back from it.”
The Lions’ defense struggled to slow the Coyotes’ offense, allowing touchdowns on three of Alice’s first four drives.
The Coyotes racked up more than 400 yards and six touchdowns during the first half. They finished with 726 total yards and 10 touchdowns. Quarterback Cutter Stewart led the offense, completing 25-of-44 passes for 487 yards and seven touchdowns.
“Yeah, we put a lot of points on the board and played really well tonight, but that score is not any indication of the team La Feria has,” Alice head coach Kyle Atwood said. “We knew coming in here there was a chance for it to be a dogfight. They have some athletes on offense and the defense flies around. Just the ball bounced our way tonight.”
La Feria’s offense fared no better, mustering just 15 total yards during their first three drives combined.
The Lions showed signs of life midway through the second, tallying 96 of their 111 first-half yards during a pair of scoring drives to make it a seven-point game.
The Lions didn’t get closer, with the Coyotes shutting down La Feria’s comeback attempt before it could gain any steam.
“We told our guys to just let it go,” Salinas said. “We’re going to bury it and forget about it. We’re going to come in and work next week. You can’t let this hang on you. If you let it hang, it can make for a long season. We have to let it go. We’re not used to this as a program. At the end of the day, they’re a very good Alice team. We didn’t play as well as we wanted to. We’re going to put this aside, move forward and just continue to improve for next week. Our kids our resilient. They’ll bounce back.”
La Feria finished with 282 yards on offense, never finding the end zone after the second quarter. Sophomore quarterback Andruw Rivera completed 16-of-25 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown. Receiver Justin Rodriguez hauled in three catches for 58 yards and a score.
The loss snaps a three-game winning streak by the Lions, dropping them to 3-2 on the year. La Feria (3-2, 0-1) continues its district slate at 7:30 p.m. Friday, taking on Corpus Christi Tuloso-Midway at Warrior Stadium in Corpus Christi.
