RAYMONDVILLE — With a decisive game against Rio Hondo looming, the Raymondville Bearkats quietly took care of business at home and added another victory to the win column defeating the Progreso Red Ants 43-0 Friday night at Burnett Stadium.
With the win the Bearkats improve to 7-0 (2-0 District 16-4A DII) and are off to their best start in recent years.
“I thought we started OK, but I thought we looked a little bit sloppy in the second quarter,” said Raymondville head coach Frank Cantu. “What I wanted was to not relax and maintain that killer attitude. I think we have to clean up the penalties and we really have to just focus on these last three games because we have to be at our very best. That’s what championship football is all about.
“We are going to do our very best to prepare mentally and be ready for what’s coming.”
Defensively, the Bearkats delivered an impressive showing as they allowed just four first downs, 26 total yards and grabbed two turnovers on the evening, one of which senior Dereck Kafka returned for an 18-yard pick six in the closing seconds of the first quarter.
Offensively, the Kats had another sharp outing as they gained a total of 428 yards. Quarterback Daniel Gutierrez led the way with 78 passing yards and 97 rushing yards. Late in the third quarter, he cut through the Progreso defense on his way to a 9-yard touchdown.
Teammate Marcus Capetillo dazzled the crowd with some fancy footwork on his way to 95 yards and two touchdowns. The junior kicked off the night by scoring both of Raymondville’s early touchdowns from 1 and 6 yards out.
Despite the impressive victory, the Bearkats struggled with penalties. In total, the Bearkats had more than 100 yards called against them, blemishing an otherwise impactful night.
“We gave up way to many,” said Cantu of the penalties. “You can only control so many things, but that is something we can control. Today I wasn’t happy with the penalties because we took ourselves out of some scoring opportunities.
“Now we can talk about Rio Hondo because now it’s time. We’ve been waiting all year long and we’ve been taking it one week at a time, but Rio Hondo is where the district goes through and now we can prepare for it and not talk about anybody else.”
