CORPUS CHRISTI — La Villa’s season came to an end with a 60-23 loss to Ganado in the Region IV-2A DI area round Thursday at Cabaniss Athletic Complex.
The District 16-2A DI champion La Villa Cardinals finish the year 9-3 overall. Their district title was the program’s first in eight years, while the bi-district playoff win over Freer last week was the Cardinals first in three seasons. The Cardinals say goodbye to 17 seniors who helped put the program back on top in District 16-2A DI.
“These guys mean a lot to that small community,” Perez said. “For these guys, all 17 of them to come out and play, it meant a lot to me, the coaches, teachers and community. They did great this year.”
Ganado advances to the regional quarterfinals for a matchup against the winner of tonight’s area round game between Refugio and Flatonia.
La Villa sophomore quarterback Brandon Felix finished with 189 rushing yards, 58 passing yards, one rushing touchdown and one two-point conversion. Teammate senior running back Christian Ortiz provided a spark offensively with 50 yards rushing, while Contreras added a pair of rushing touchdowns.
La Villa’s offense made the first big play of the game as Felix broke free for a 74-yard run on a read option to set the Cardinals up in scoring territory. Senior running back AJ Contreras then took two plays to punch it in from the 4-yard line for a La Villa touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
After the Cardinals score, however, it was all Ganado.
“We started out really good, scored first, but then we had some struggles there. I talked to them about not giving up, and they didn’t give up ‘til the end, and I’m proud of these guys,” La Villa head coach Danny Perez said.
The Indians scored six-first half touchdowns as La Villa had no answer for the connection of quarterback Kyle Bures-Guerrero and receiver Riley Hurt. Bures-Guerrero had a perfect first half by going 15-for-15 for 196 yards, three passing touchdowns and a pair of rushing scores, while Hurt hauled in seven receptions for 143 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Vince Sablatura added a 26-yard rushing touchdown during the first quarter for Ganado.
La Villa gained 183 yards of total offense during the first half but just the one touchdown on the opening drive of the game to show for it. The Cardinals ended with 302 total yards.
