El Capitan Vaqueros 24, Patrick Henry Patriots 6

      On paper Friday nights game would have gone a lot different than what actually happened at the El Capitan’s first game on their new field. The Vaqueros 24-6 win over the Patrick Henry Patriots gives them their first win of the season. After many thought the (0-3) start was too much to overcome for the Vaqueros, they showed why they have been a power over the past few seasons. The combined effort of their stingy defense and potent passing game was enough to stop a hot Patrick Henry team who had a combined 98 points over their last two games.

     Patrick Henry who had been clicking on all cylinders and got off to a (2-1) start this season suddenly lost its momentum in Lakeside. The defensive line of El Capitan had its way with the Patriot offense, as the Vaqueros public announcer described them as “deflated”, pun intended. Here’s looking at you Tom Brady. John Demos quarterback of the Patriots had little to no time to find his star studded wide receiver corp and there just weren’t any running lanes for Zariyan Cook to get going out of the backfield. With the Patrick Henry offense out of sync most of the night, El Capitan pushed their lead to 21-0 in the third quarter and never looked back.

     El Capitan who had only managed three touchdowns all season coming into Friday night had glimpses of their former division II title team tonight. The offense looked like it had been clicking for weeks with the fluid connections all game from quarterback Phoenix Cates to Javier Vidalez. The duo connected on a 40-yard TD early in the first and picked up another TD on a beautiful halfback pass where Jonathan Summers eventually found Vidalez again in the end zone for 64-yards. Later in the third quarter Connor Roosa reached pay-dirt on a 7-yard run that put the Vaqueros up 21-0, finishing what would lead to their first win of 2015.

     Next week: El Capitan will take their win streak to Granite Hills to face the Eagles, while the Patrick Henry Patriots will try to rebound as they return home to host the Valhalla Norsemen.

PREVIEW:

     Going into this Fridays non-league contest the Patrick Henry Patriots and El Capitan Vaqueros couldn’t be more polar opposites. After achieving success the last couple years only losing a total of three games the last two seasons combined, the Vaqueros are off to an 0-3 start. While the Patriots who haven’t had a winning season since 2012, are coming in with a 2-1 record following their 48-7 shellacking of Monte Vista. Friday night the Patriots look to keep things going in the right direction as El Cap strives for its first win of 2015.

     In the last two games Patrick Henry has outscored its opponents 98-21 as their offense further establishes itself as a force in the City League. Quarterback John Demos has impressive numbers in three games piling up 9 TD’s and 687-yards passing, both which put him in top 5 in the county in terms of production. Some credit must go to the array of weapons in the backfield and set up out wide for the Patriots. Demos’ receivers Dominick Silvels and Kreig Corkill have torched their defensive counterparts, both with 4 receiving TD’s going into Week 4. Silvels also has a rushing TD and a kick return TD totaling 6 on the season. Patrick Henry is not all passing game though, as they feature running back Zariyan Cook who flaunts a 6.4 yard per carry average. Cook’s 269-yards and 4 rushing TD’s should keep the Vaqueros defense honest, not allowing them to just focus on the Patriot’s talented receivers.

     It was all good just two weeks ago for the El Capitan Vaqueros. Since coming out strong against Mater Dei in Week 2 building a 14-0 first quarter lead, the offense has yet to find the end zone again. Despite quarterback Phoenix Cates spreading the ball around the field and involving all his weapons, defenses have been able to halt the Vaquero offense. In fact (including last weeks shutout), El Capitan has only managed 21 points all season. The Vaquero defense lead by a standout line backer corp however has kept the team in games the last two weeks. In order to keep the Patriots at bay, the defense will need to bring its proverbial “A game” as the Vaqueros offense finds itself. El Cap can build on the fact they missed two first quarter field goals and were set up at the opponent’s 9-yard line for a possible game winning TD from last week’s deflating 6-0 loss.

     The Patriots only defeat of the season was a 36-20 loss at Granite Hills. The game plan the Eagles imposed was not to stop the Patrick Henry receivers, but to contain at least two of the big three. In doing so Granite Hills got the W, and El Capitan will need to do the same to stop the Patriots two game win streak.