By PETE BANDA
Special to the NEWS
PROGRESO – With an absolute thrashing of the Progreso Red Ants in their regular season finale, the Rio Hondo Bobcats managed to salvage an otherwise disappointing season that saw them miss the playoffs for the first time in seven years.
The 55-12 beatdown put on by the Bobcats was easily their largest margin of victory all season and it couldn’t have come at a more fitting time.
With their morale down after the blowout loss they suffered last week to the rival Tarpons, Rio Hondo put together a masterful performance on both sides of the ball resulting in their highest offensive output of the season matched with the second least amount of points they’ve allowed in 2012.
The win would have been enough to send the Bobcats into the postseason for the eighth consecutive year; however the results of other district games kept the Bobcats out by way of head-to-head tie breaker.
“We really wanted to keep our season alive and play another week, but things just didn’t fall our way outside of this game,” said Head Coach Rocky James. “It’s great that we took care of all the things we could control tonight, our offensive line played great, our defense played great, but the tiebreaker just didn’t go our way.”
Quarterback Eli Pitones, who has been filling in for an injured Juan Puga for the last few games, led the Bobcats again in this one, but it was running back Hernan Guerrero who stomped all over the Red Ants, literally, as he ran for close to 250 yards while being used as the cornerstone of the offense.
The win gives the Bobcats an overall winning record for the season, and although they finished in a tie for the last playoff spot in district, their loss to La Feria earlier in the season came back to haunt them as the Lions claimed the postseason berth with their win over Hidalgo Friday.
“I’m proud of all these players, playoffs or not,” Coach James said. “It was tough losing Juan (Puga) early on the way we did, but we kept fighting to the last game, it’s just a shame circumstances didn’t go our way this year.”
Read this story in the Nov. 11 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
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