CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In the Game of the Week, the Alice Coyotes (4-1, 2-0) strolled into Tuloso-Midway and showed why they're still a top contender for the 4A-1 District 16 title. Alice put the game away in the first half, winning 40-14 over the Warriors (6-1, 2-1).
Both teams made mistakes to start the game.
On the first drive of the game, Alice's Landon Rodriguez caught a pass on an out route before fumbling the ball along the sideline. The Warriors moved into Coyote territory only for Braycen Beazell's pass to be intercepted at the 10-yard line by Alice's Matthew Carrillo.
His big return to the Warrior 32-yard line, set up Alice's first score of the game. Sophomore quarterback Lucian Cruz pushed his way into the endzone for a short-run touchdown.
Tuloso-Midway's run game was slightly effective, but they had trouble converting that crucial third down.
The second quarter is where Alice ran away with it. Early in the quarter, Cruz threw a short yardage pass to his senior leader, Justin Arellano, to go up 14-0.
On Alice's next chance, Cruz connected again with Arellano, running a crossing route over the middle for a 39-yard touchdown. That made it 21-0 for the Coyotes.
Finally, halfway through the quarter, the Warriors struck gold. Sophomore running back Damian Figueroa hit the gap that allowed him to go 45 yards to the house. That put Tuloso-Midway on the board trailing 21-7.
The most points Tuloso-Midway gave up in a game this year was 12 coming into this match-up. They'd only given up 36 total points in six games. Their defense struggled to contain the Alice offense.
As Alice pulled away, the Warriors got away from the run game, but the passing game was not clicking to keep up.
Capping off the quarter was Cruz tucking and running for another 1-yard touchdown, his fourth touchdown of the night. Coyotes missed the extra point and went into the half up 27-7.
Penalties and mistakes really hurt the Warriors and were exacerbated by Alice capitalizing on them.
As Tuloso-Midway was punting in the fourth quarter, the snap went over the punter's head. He was able to gather it but was tackled on his own 10-yard line.
Alice Senior Roel Gonzalez got on the score sheet with a 1-yard touchdown run to go up 34-7.
On the kickoff, Warriors get a big return from Sophomore Jordan Gonzalez. He'd get deep into Coyote territory. An unsportsmanlike conduct flag on Alice moved the warriors to the 15-yard line. There, Figueroa got to the right edge to score for the second time.
Tuloso-Midway tried an onside kick after their score, only to have it returned for a touchdown by Rodriguez.
Alice will play in their second consecutive Game of the Week when Calallen (5-1, 3-0) comes to town on Friday, Oct. 13. Both teams are undefeated in district play, and the winner will hold sole possession of the district.
Tuloso-Midway has bye week before they try and rebound against Calallen on Oct. 20.
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