By Rob Segura
The Van Horn Eagles started off their 2016 season at home with a match up against Tornillo. The first quarter was plagued with yellow laundry all over the gridiron as the Eagles and Coyotes could not mentally get into the game. The Eagle’s quarterback scored the first down for the Eagles, and Rafael Rodriguez made his way into the end zone with the 8:03 showing on the first quarter clock. After a quarter of play the Eagles maintained the lead of 7 to 0. The Coyotes quickly scored in the beginning of the second quarter with the Coyotes closing the gap making the score 7 to 6 with the clock only showing 11:54.
The Eagle squad quickly responded with bombardment of scores, starting with Rodriguez to Baeza scoring 6 for the Eagles. Rafael Rodriguez scored on one more quarterback keeper for the Eagles followed by a blocked punt and Alex Urias with an easy pick 6 for the Eagles. Alex Escajeda made a great catch from Rodriguez throwing into the flat for another Eagle score. The Coyotes did manage to block an extra point attempt by the Eagles bringing the score to 33 to 6 at half time.
In the third quarter Tornillo marched into Eagle’s territory and set up on the 6-yard line, only to have Alex Escajeda blow the air out of the Tornillo fans by making a momentum -killing interception and taking the Coyotes out of scoring position. The third quarter ended with the score of 40 to 6. Tornillo did manage to score in the fourth quarter with 10:18 left on the clock, but it was too little too late.
The Eagle coaching staff, looking for some play from backups and testing their depth proved too much for the Tornillo Coyotes, even after bringing back the A-Team to prevent the score after the Coyotes had trenched themselves deep into Eagle territory. The final score for the Eagle’s home opener was a good victory and confidence builder as they travel to Alpine this Friday to take on the Bucks. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. on new turf set at the stadium in Alpine.
