Hornets prepare for Zephyr
By JEREMY HEATH Staff Writer

PHOTO BY CHERI JAY-WIENECKE Lometa Hornets quarterback Joe Michael Rivera (10) passes the ball off to David Cruz in the Hornets' recent loss to Grandfalls-Royalty on the road.

Lometa head football coach Wendell Bradley knows his team must play four quarters of football if it wants to rebound from its season-opening 41-22 loss to Grandfalls-Royalty.

Grandfalls-Royalty jumped out to a 22-0 halftime lead in the win. The Hornets outscored the Cowboys 22-19 in the second half, but wasted first-half opportunities put them in too deep a hole.

"We looked kind of like Florida State the other night (in a 24-18 loss to Clemson)," the coach said. "In the first half we looked terrible, and in the second half we looked great."

The Hornets (0-1) are scheduled to play Zephyr on the road Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Zephyr has three starters on each side of the ball returning from last year's 8-4 District 14 champion and state quarterfinalist, but the Bulldogs are getting acclimated to first-year coach Landon Buffe.

"They're in a little bit of a rebuilding mode with a new coach who's trying to get enough kids playing time to get them back to the playoffs," Bradley said. "We just need to come out and play.

"Last week, we just stood around and watched to see what our opponent was going to do. This week, we've got to go out and decide we're going to play hard from the very beginning of the ball game."

Grandfalls racked up 391 total yards with 225 of that via the passing game. Lometa had 322 total yards, including 245 on the ground.

After spotting the Cowboys 22 points, the Hornets rebounded with three rushing touchdowns in the second half. Anthony Torres scored twice, and David Cruz once.

Cruz led the team with 112 yards on five carries, an average of 22.4 yards every time he touched the ball. Cruz also led the team with 14 tackles.

Senior quarterback Joe Michael Rivera ran for 59 yards and completed 8 of 13 passes for 77 yards. Rivera, who was the backup the past two seasons, threw just nine passes all last season.

"That was the first time Joe Michael was expected to come out as the starter at the beginning of the season," Bradley said. "I thought he came out and did a good job. In the first half, he played pretty well but didn't get a lot of help. In the second half, we came out in the Spread, and he made a couple of long runs that really sparked us."

Torres finished with 43 yards on 10 carries, and James Logsdon ran for 38 on six carries. Toby Davis led the team with two catches for 35 yards.

Bubba Salinas had eight tackles, and Eric Belyeu registered six. Torres and James Smith each recorded a sack.