"We expected it to be a tough, physical game," said Eagle Offensive Coordinator Javier Cardenas. "They held United to 14 points. So we expected a physical game."
Head Coach Tom Gonzalez agreed with Cardenas.
"We've seen them before," said Head Coach Tom Gonzalez."We expected them to be strong and physical. They are a very good football team."
The Bobcats came out swinging with a nine minute drive that ate up the clock and ended up in a one yard run by junior quarterback Raul Agosto to put them up 7-0.
"They had a long drive to start out the game," added Gonzalez. "We didn't even touch the ball until there were three minutes left in the first quarter."
When the Eagles got the ball, they scored on a magnificent 66 yard pitch and catch from quarterback Richie Luna on a fade route to the left which was caught by Rey Mendoza for the initial Eagle Pass score. The Jose Riojas PAT was good, 7-7 was the score.
"We began to exploit the height advantage we had on their DB's and the line did a good job of blocking and giving Riche plenty of time to throw," stated Cardenas as the Eagles racked up almost 350 yards of offense.
Luna hit Mendoza again with 7:00 to go in the first half on a five yard slant pattern. The PAT was good and the Eagles took a 14-7 lead into the locker room.
"I felt we had the momentum as we had scored these two touchdowns going into halftime," said Coach Gonzalez, "I basically just told the guys to keep the foot on the pedal."
And score they did, first on an 11 yard swing pass to DeeAndre Torres with 9:30 remaining in the third quarter, then another Luna to Mendoza connection on a beautiful play action post pattern for a thirty yard score.
Finally it was a 12 yard pass to News Gram Player of The Week who kept his promise on a bubble screen to take the rock into the end zone for the final Eagle tally. The two-point conversion to all-purpose man Jose Riojas was good and the Eagles took a commanding 43-14 victory over the Bobcats.
The Eagles will travel to the Gateway City on Thursday to take on the always tough United South Panthers.
"United South is very good," closed Coach Tom Gonzalez. "This is a very competitive district and all the teams are good. They throw a lot, like 60/40 percent run to pass. Their quarterback is very good. They are a very physical football team. We're expecting a tough game."