In the cold weather of October, the Cienega Bobcats Freshman Football team put on one of their best performances of the season with a blowout win at home against Nogales by a score of 56-12. It was a dominant performance by the Bobcats in all 3 phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams. Early in the game, Cienega had a little bit of a scare when Nogales marched down the field and scored a quick touchdown on their first possession of the game. Nogales looked for an early advantage over the Bobcats and went for the 2-point conversion, but were unsuccessful. Led by dual threat quarterback Ricardo Par, the Apaches displayed an explosive running game early on where they used designed runs by Par that caught Cienega off guard. When Cienega got the ball for their first time, they had an equally impressive drive and took the lead 7-6 in the first quarter. Cienega made some key adjustments on defense and only gave up 6 points to Nogales the rest of the game.

The Bobcats forced Par to beat them throwing the football by stopping some of the designed quarterback runs and option plays on 1st and 2nd down. Nogales went for it on 4th down most of the game as their first punt in the first quarter was blocked by Cienega. Cienega’s offense, led by quarterback Tyler Hammons and wide receiver Nick Gonzalez, capitalized on the good field position and were able to control the game with a balanced attack on the ground and in the air. Cienega went into halftime leading Nogales 28-12. In the second half, things didn’t get much better for Nogales as Par was forced to leave the game with an undisclosed injury, bringing in a backup quarterback that was unable to put together a scoring drive for the Apaches. On the first play of the second half, Nico Jordan from Cienega returned a kickoff for a touchdown to put the Bobcats up 35-12. From that point, the game was all but over. Cienega controlled the game on both defense and offense, keeping the Apaches from getting into any type of rhythm. With a couple of late touchdowns, including a nice run from Nick Gonzalez, Cienega held on to win the game with ease. Cienega improves to 5-5 on the season and will play its final game of the season next week @ Desert View on October 24th.