Donna storms past Palmview
LA JOYA —Donna used a bruising running game and capitalized on La Joya Palmview’s mistakes to beat the Lobos 40-21 on Friday night in both teams’ District 30-5A opener at La Joya ISD Stadium.
The game wasn’t as close as the score suggests with the Redskins (3-1, 1-0) running out to a 26-7 halftime score and were never seriously threatened by the Lobos (2-2, 1-0) the rest of the night. Donna used 173 first-half rushing yards to run roughshod over the banged up Palmview squad.
“That’s Donna football. We’re going to run the ball,” Donna coach Manny Moreno said. “We’re going to control the tempo of the game. We’re going to pass when we need to, but Donna football is running the ball.”
With its line opening gaping holes, Donna running backs Gabriel Martinez and Joey Chapa combined for 177 yards on the gound. Passing when you have to? Indeed. The Redskins’ quarterback Alahn Yanez threw for 158 yards and two touchdowns on just six completions to help put Palmview on its heels.
For Palmview, it simply made too many mistakes to overcome a tested and tradition-rich opponent. The Lobos put the ball on the ground four times in the first half — lost two — and threw an interception. The team’s sideline also looked like a MASH unit with at least half a dozen players helped off the field.
Although much of its yardage came in the second half, halfback Carlos Siller and quarterback Javier Femat were impressive in the loss, rolling up 53 and 115 yards rushing, respectively.
"We still have a lot of work to do," Moreno said. "We missed tackles, lacked enthusiasm and that’s why we have to go back to work hard every day."
One of Donna’s biggest miscues was Palmview’s first score of the night. Yanez gift-wrapped a soft pass over the middle for defender Abel Martinez and he ran it back 50 yards for touchdown and a 7-0 first-quarter lead. It would be the Lobos’ only lead of the night.
Donna went on a scoring spree and put 33 unanswered points on the board on the ground, in the air, by field goal and safety. By the time it was 33-7 in the third, the game was safely out of reach and Donna’s reserves were soon receiving playing time.
It’s the second straight year that Donna has scored at least 40 points in victories over Palmview.
