Top left, Lometa Coach Wendell Bradley takes time to talk to his players. Top right: Scotty Hernandez (7) tries to block a Covington runner. Bottom left: A Hornet attempts to tackle a Covington player. Bottom right: Dalton Parsons (1) is brought down by members of the opposing team. It happened just like Wendell Bradley expected.

Almost everything went the Hornets' way in their seasonopening 46-point shutout victory at home over Covington last Friday.

Lometa marched up and down the field, scoring touchdowns on each of its four completions and adding three more scores on the ground in a game that extended just barely into the second half before the mercy rule was evoked with 8:51 remaining in the third quarter.

While the coach expected to start the season with a victory, he was curious to see how his relatively young group of players would execute his game plan against the Owls, who are embarking on only their second season of playing sixman football.

"We're still not where I want us [to be]," Bradley said. "I imagine you're not ever comfortable when you don't have your entire playbook completely in.

PHOTOS BY CHERI JAY-WIENECKE "I felt a lot better about the ball game about halfway through the first quarter when we took over and [collectively] went 'OK, let's get it done.'"

The coach admitted his offense struggled a bit during the opening minutes of play when Covington switched its defense but, after making a few adjustments of their own, it was hard to see any flaws for the Hornets -- especially on the scoreboard.

Lometa took a 12-point lead into the second quarter and quickly added to it behind an accurate performance from quarterback Dalton Parsons.

The junior was a perfect 4 of 4 for 124 yards and four touchdowns in the first half, leading his Hornets to a 40-0 lead at the break. Parsons (4- 6, 124 yds.) finished the game with two incompletions, but he made up for it by running for a pair of touchdowns.

On the ground, Parsons ran the ball nine times for a game-high 64 rushing yards.

As a team, Covington accumulated only 28 yards on 15 carries. The Owls finished with just 27 total yards of offense after completing two of 10 passes for negative 1 yard.

"[The Owls] were a little bit upset after the ball game because they expected to do a lot better than they did," Bradley said. "They scored eight touchdowns in their scrimmage the week before.

"When they realized their offense wasn't going to work for them, a little bit of frustration set in."

The Hornets had no such problems.

In addition to Parsons' performance, Romero Hernandez ran for 55 yards and a touchdown on five carries. Junior Castruita (3 for 14) and Marco Hernandez (1 for 9) rounded out the Hornets' rushing attack.

Scott Hernandez (66 yds.) and Colt Maldonado (58 yds.) each caught two touchdown passes.

Defensively, Lometa finished the night with five sacks, a fumble recovery and an interception.

Parsons (3 tackles, 2 sacks), Hernandez (4 tackles, 1 sack) and Justin Nichols (2 sacks) were responsible for the sacks, while Scott Hernandez was responsible for the Owls' turnovers. Senior defensive back Charlie Wagner recorded four tackles.

With their first game out of the way, the Hornets begin a stretch of four road games that Bradley believes will "define" his team.

First up is a trip to Zephyr, currently ranked 87th in the state, according to SixManFootball.com, after losing 62-41 to Rochelle last week.

Despite being a 45-point favorite, the No. 22 Hornets will be prepared for a dogfight.

"Zephyr is a Division II program, but they are a quality Division II program," Bradley said. "Before there were two divisions, Zephyr was always in the playoffs. It's a storied program.

"To me, [the 45-point spread] is a little far-fetched. We're not that much better than they are. They're down a little bit, but they're going to do a real good job at what they do. They're too good for us to think we'll walk out there and win by 45."

In 2008, the Bulldogs lost to Sidney in the opening round of the playoffs after posting an 8-3 (5-0 district) record.

The clubs will clash on just the second six-man field in the state to install turf. Trent also sports artificial turf on its field.

Hornets work to stop Covington defenders. Regardless of whether they win or lose, the Hornets have another difficult opponent the following week when they travel to No. 3 Richland Springs.

"Richland is going to run a similar offense," Bradley said. "If we have trouble in Zephyr, we're really going to have trouble in Richland Springs."

***

The Hornets' junior varsity team participated in what Bradley called a "gimmage" - part game, part scrimmage - against Cherokee's combined program.

Lometa trailed 16-2 when the Cherokee varsity players were pulled from the contest, and they cut the lead to 16-10 by halftime before losing 50-24 in the loosely officiated contest.

"Everybody got a lot of good work and a lot of good playing in," Bradley said. "I think it was a good experience."