(Photo by Edward Cruz)
Rio Hondo Bobcats running back Marco Garate is seen running through the Grulla Gators defense with ease on Friday night at Bobcat Stadium.
By ARMANDO GARZA
Special to the NEWS
RIO HONDO — Marco Garate seems to have this 200-yard rushing thing down pat.
And he’s showing no signs of slowing down, either.
The Rio Hondo running back turned in his second-straight game over two bills, rumbling for 247 yards and two touchdowns as the Bobcats cruised past Grulla 40-0 at Bobcat Stadium on Friday night.
Garate went 94 yards for a touchdown on his first carry and spearheaded a Bobcat rushing attack that churned out over 400 yards as the boys in black improved to 4-1 on the season. The senior had 277 yards against Hidalgo last week for his first 200-yard effort and said he’s definitely in a groove right now thanks to help he’s received.
“I have to give thanks to my o-line and my running backs coach for always being there for me,” Garate said afterward. “It’s great. Every game I want to go out and try to set records and be the best that I can be. That’s my goal every time we play.”
The long TD from Garate put the Cats up early in the first and QB Josh Gonzalez made it 13-0 on his 12-yard scoring scamper with 1:54 left in the first.
Thanks to a fumble recovery by Isaiah Heredia, the Rio Hondo lead swelled to 20-0 on a 13-yard keeper by QB Eli Pitones at the 9:40 mark of the second quarter.
Garate’s second score, a 3-yarder, was all effort as he pinballed his way in a few minutes later while Gonzalez tacked on a 14-yard TD run to make it 34-0 Cats at intermission.
In that first half, Rio Hondo’s defense stymied Grulla to one first down and forced six punts in the first half. The Gators had just 33 total yards at the break and were stumped against the Cats’ D all night long. On the night, the injury-riddled Gators totaled just 123 total yards as they fell to 0-5 on the year.
“That was the best performance so far for us this year,” Rio Hondo head coach Rocky James said. “It was an all-around effort. Our o-line was tremendous and our backs ran hard all night. And getting the shutout, that goose egg gets the kids fired up. Now we go into a week off and rest up and get ready for West Oso.”
The second score for Pitones came with 5:45 to go in the third as he finished a 20-yard keep to round out the scoring. Defensively, Rio Hondo’s Eliseo Guerrero fell on a fumble and Joey Guzman recorded an INT for the Cats to close things out and send the Homecoming crowd home happy.
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