The tiny mites, whose ages range from 5 to 7, squared off
against the Oak Grove North (OGN) Rugrats and jumped out to an
early lead on the opening series with a touchdown by Easia
Torres-Lanford after a 70-yard drive.
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA
Tiny Mites:
San Benito Cardinals 18, Oak Grove North Rugrats 6
This past Saturday was the official Opening Day of the regular season for the San Benito Cardinals. The tiny mites, whose ages range from 5 to 7, squared off against the Oak Grove North (OGN) Rugrats and jumped out to an early lead on the opening series with a touchdown by Easia Torres-Lanford after a 70-yard drive.
The Cardinals defense stopped the Rugrats on their ensuing possession and then the offense promptly mounted a strong drive that ended with another touchdown by Torres-Lanford on the last play of the first half.
The Cardinals started the second half on defense and forced a turnover on the first play to give the offense a chance to put the game out of reach. After executing a controlled, clock-eating drive, Primo Reyes swept around the left end and scored the final Cardinal touchdown from 4 yards out to give the tiny mites an 18-point lead with about 10 minutes to play.
The OGN Rugrats scored on the last play of the game to bring the final tally to 18-6 in favor of the Cardinals. Once again, it was the strong play of the offensive line and defensive squad that led the tiny mites to victory.
Key players included Larry Garcia, Chase LaForge-Sciacqua, Karim Yasin and Alex Valencia.
Next on the schedule for the Cardinals will be a grudge match against the Oak Grove West Rookies, this time on the Cardinals’ home turf. Kickoff is 9 a.m. on Saturday.
Pee Wees:
Silicon Valley Tigers 32, San Benito Cardinals 0
The Cardinal pee wee team opened its season at Anzar High on Saturday against the Silicon Valley Tigers with hard-fought 32-0 loss.
Opening day miscues had the Cards falling behind early by a 20-0 margin in the first half on three turnovers, two of which were returned for touchdowns. After settling down the defense, led by linebackers Alex Felix and Zach Alnas, held the Tigers to two short scoring drives. Jaime Garcia and Will Lanning also came up with key tackles in holding the Tigers to just six second-half points.
The Cards’ last chance to put up a score came on a late drive in the fourth quarter. Led by quarterback Christian Orozco, the Cards drove to the Tigers’ 19-yard line, but were stopped. Running back Kevin Casillas gained yardage catching several passes from Orozco and added runs to the outside, while Felix pounded the ball up the middle from the fullback spot.
Special teams played a solid four quarters, led by the play of Raul De la Cruz, Daniel Pasillas and Sean Mills.
The Cardinals’ next game is at Anzar this Saturday against Oak Grove West. Kickoff is 2 p.m.
