The Hornets' James Reyna tackles a Brookesmith ball carrier in Lometa's mercy-rule victory over the Mustangs. Reyna finished the game with seven tackles and one sack. The Hornets are not taking mercy on anyone, but the referees are.

Lometa improved to 2-0 over the weekend by earning its second mercy-rule victory on the road.

After posting 58 first-half points en route to a shortened 82-37 opening weekend, neutral site win against Woodson, the Hornets traveled to Brookesmith, where they needed just a half to finish off the Mustangs 50-0.

In addition to maintaining a flawless start, the Lometa team moved into the state’s top 20. According to SixManFootball.com, the Hornets are No. 20 across the entire state and are ranked the 14th-best Division I team entering Week 2.

With a pair of impressive road showings under their belts, the Hornets return to Lometa, where they will spend the next three weeks playing on their home field.

Hector Rivera hauls in a pass against Brookesmith. The Lometa receiver had three receptions for 81 yards and two touchdowns in the contest on the Mustangs' home field. The win brings the Hornets' record to 2-0 and has garnered the team a spot on SixManFootball.com's top 20 list. PHOTOS BY CHERI JAY-WIENECKE The home stand begins tonight at 7:30 p.m. when Lometa hosts Zephyr (1-1 overall). The Bulldogs are ranked 29th in Division I.

After losing to Jonesboro 66-20 in the opener, Zephyr exploded for 66 points in its 50-point, mercy-rule victory against the Rochelle Hornets.

Tonight’s matchup should be a good measuring stick for Lometa since it shares a district with Rochelle, and the pair of Hornet squads were predicted to finish the season with the district’s top two seeds. Rochelle, however, was picked to win the district this year by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine.

Since the magazine hit newsstands, the snub has given Lometa added motivation to prove the critics wrong, especially on Nov. 5 when Lometa and Rochelle meet in the season finale.

But before facing Rochelle, the Hornets must contend with the team that recently defeated it.

The Zephyr Bulldogs return 14 letterman and lost only four from last year’s squad that went 4-6 overall with a 3-2 district record. The roster also retains four offensive and three defensive starters.

Perhaps none are more important to the Bulldogs’ success than spread back Haustin Simmons, who accounted for over 2,500 yards of offense in 2009. Simmons — Dave Campbell’s pick for the District 10- 6M DI preseason offensive MVP — rushed for 1,119 yards and threw for an additional 1,400.

The Hornets also have an impressive army of their own, though.

Senior Dalton Parsons accumulated 443 yards of total offense and was involved in scoring 62 points in the season-opener against Woodson. At Brookesmith, the quarterback passed for 90 yards and three touchdowns on three-of-five passing, and he ran for 37 yards and a score.

Hector Rivera (three catches, 81 yards, two touchdowns) and Dylan Straley were on the receiving end of Parsons’ touchdown passes.

Manual Hernandez led the Hornets’ rushing attack by totaling 94 of the team’s 182 yards. He also scored two touchdowns.

Lometa jumped out to a 32-0 lead last weekend at the end of the first quarter before taking on 18 more points before halftime.

Junior defensive end Brandon Lilly finished with eight tackles and two sacks in the shutout.

As a unit, Lometa’s defense limited Brookesmith to just 39 yards of offense, including negative 14 rushing yards.