Donna High is lighting up the scoreboard and racking up the stats so far during the first three weeks of the high school football season.
The Redskins have amassed 1,053 rushing yards to go with 648 yards through the air for a total of 1,701 yards. Donna High (3-0) is averaging 51 points per game and giving up 11 points a game.
“It has been a while since we have had a 3-0 start,” Donna High head coach Mike Gonzales said. “The kids are getting confidence every week. They realized we have the ability to move the ball, and we have always prided ourselves on good defense. The kids are excited.”
Thirteen different rushers have carried the ball, eight of them have touchdowns and eight Redskins have receptions.
Senior Joel Ramirez leads the team in rushing with 236 yards and a touchdown. Ramirez also has five catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. Fellow senior Luis Silva has 223 yards on only seven carries, but two of those carries were touchdowns.
Third on the team in rushing is Jake Garcia. The senior quarterback has 198 yards on the ground and four touchdowns. Garcia is used as a running quarterback but does have a touchdown pass on the season.
“Our offense is unique because we have different weapons that we can depend on,” Garcia said. “A very diverse group, we have a lot of returners on offense as well. We just feel like we can hit you from anywhere, on the ground and in the air.”
Sophomore quarterback Geoffrey Lefevre has completed 65% of his passes for 601 yards. Lefevre can stretch a defense, as on average his completions go for 16.2 yards.
“It really helps when all of our skill players are balling out,” Lefevre said. “Our offensive line, they are doing really well also. Ever since last year, 3-6 (record), we took that personal.”
Lefevre’s favorite target is Marc Zamorano. The senior wideout has 18 receptions for 343 yards and six touchdowns. Zamorano’s yardage ranks No. 8 on MaxPreps.com for all 11-man football teams that submit stats in Region IV.
“Hard work is paying off,” Zamorano said. “I think we are feeling pretty good, whoever gets the ball has the speed to break away.”
Xavier Rodriguez, an underclassman, is a player to keep an eye on. Rodriguez is second on the team in most receiving categories with seven catches for 102 yards and a touchdown to go along with 95 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.
The Redskins will face Edcouch-Elsa (2-1) on Friday. On paper, this looks like it should be the toughest test for Donna High.
After giving up 52 points in the season opener to Corpus Christi Carroll, the Yellow Jackets gave up 13 against Raymondville and Brownsville Rivera combined. The touchdown for Raymondville was a defensive touchdown.
“We are going to travel over there to Edcouch, it is never easy,” Gonzales said. “We are prepping our kids to be ready for a playoff atmosphere. They are notorious for packing the stands, our community is excited and hopefully they travel. We are excited for the challenge.”
Donna High and Edcouch-Elsa kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Benny Layton Memorial Stadium.
FIRST WINS FOR DISTRICT 16-5A D1 TEAMS
Harlingen South picked up a win on the road against Brownsville Hanna, 34-7, last week.
“It is a good feeling,” Hawks coach Israel Gonzalez III said. “The kids are working hard, and it took us a bit to get rolling. Hopefully now we are headed in the right direction and we can keep the momentum going.”
Junior safety Mikey Gonzalez came up big in the win over Hanna. The safety had two interceptions and took one to the house.
“Mikey is one of our defensive leaders,” Gonzalez said. “He played for us on offense last year as a sophomore. This year we had a need in the secondary. We knew that he could go over there and fill that position. He works extremely hard and he has done a tremendous job.”
Harlingen South (1-2) wraps up non-district with Brownsville Rivera (1-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial (1-1) came off a bye to defeat Brownsville St. Joseph (2-1).
The Chargers picked up a 40-21 win on the road. Leading the way was quarterback Reece Sampayo. The senior put up 146 yards passing and a touchdown. On the ground, Sampayo rushed for 71 yards and two touchdowns.
Sophomore Storm Montoya rushed for 124 yards on eight carries. Junior Jaime Martinez ran for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Bryan Chavez ran for 58 yards and a touchdown. Senior receiver Jay Valdez caught the lone receiving touchdown.
Brownsville Veterans will play another good sub-5A team when it takes on Port Isabel (3-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Brownsville Veterans.
