Rio Hondo falls short against Sinton

SINTON — Rio Hondo literally saw the game slip right out of its hands.

Trailing by seven, Rio Hondo got the ball to the Sinton 10-yard line and had momentum on its side with less than five minutes to play.

But quarterback Juan Puga fumbled the ball at the 2-yard line and the Pirates recovered and went on to defeat a scrappy Rio Hondo squad, 28-21.

Sinton improved to 10-1 and will face Pearsall in the area round. Rio Hondo ends its season at 5-6.

“We got the ball to the three and our quarterback was not able to move to the inside and turned the ball over,” said Rio Hondo head coach Rocky James. “That seemed to give Sinton some momentum on their side and we were able to actually come up with a turnover of our own. But we couldn’t capitalize.

“Even though the scoreboard shows we fell short, this was a moral victory for us. It was a hard-fought game and our guys overcame a 14-point deficit and had a chance to tie it up. But they never quit fighting and that is all I can ask for.”

It didn’t take long for Sinton to score, as they marched down the field 70 yards in just three plays, with quarterback Josh Harrison finding Shane Segovia on a 26-yard touchdown pass to give them a 7-0 lead.

Rio Hondo answered as quarterback Isaiah De La Cruz ran it in from 11 yards out to tie the game with 6:39 left in the first quarter.

Sinton retook the lead, 14-7, as Ryan Cantu ran it in from two yards out with 3:14 left in the first quarter.

Harrison threw his second touchdown of he night as he hooked up with Ramsey Rivera on a 43-yard strike, extending the Pirates lead to 21-7 late in the first half.

Sinton continued to dominate through the air as Harrison found Segovia for a 57-yard touchdown pass giving them a commanding 28-7 lead.

However, Rio Hondo was not ready to throw in the towel as De La Cruz found Jorge Bermudez in the end zone from six yards out, cutting the lead to 28-13 with 4:52 left in the third quarter.

The Bobcats cut the lead to seven as De La Cruz was on the receiving end of a 19-yard touchdown pass from Juan Puga with 11:48 left in the fourth quarter.

“They had us on our heels tonight and we were fortunate to get the win tonight,” said Sinton head coach Tom Allen. “They have a very young team and that is scary. I feel that we did not play real well tonight and need to fix some things up before we play Pearsall next week.

“But I take nothing away from Rio Hondo. Coach (Rocky) James has done a great job with that program and they will be back next year.”