'Jackets sting Bulldogs for opening win

Williams came off its preseason scrimmage battered, bruised and looking for a lot of fixes.

Los Molinos could not have been happier with its final preparation leading into Friday's season opener against the host Yellowjackets.

How the tables have turned after Williams dominated the Bulldogs 28-0 in a non-league tilt.

"Back to the drawing board," said Los Molinos coach Irvin Maxwell after his club (0-1) was held to 22 total yards of offense — losing big chunks of yards on bad snaps, sacks and other miscues throughout the game.

Maxwell said his players may have been a little over-hyped, and struggled to control their emotions.

"We need more discipline, and it's back to the drawing board," Maxwell said.

The Yellowjackets (1-0) scored once on the ground and quarterback Carlos Vasquez found fellow senior Tony Salcedo three times through the air in a huge win for a team that went 1-9 last year.

"That's a great win; that's a great feeling for these kids," Williams coach Dan McDonald said. "It gives them a lot of confidence, and it is a great feeling."

Vasquez, who emerged the clear leader on both sides of the ball, said the team wanted this game, and it wanted to let Los Molinos know that right away.

"We had a lot of guys who really wanted to win this game," said Vasquez, who completed 5-of-11 throws for 90 yards and the three scores, two coming in the second half when the Yellowjackets nailed down the victory.

"We saw LM was a little rattled, and we tried to beat them with our quickness and speed right away so they knew we came out to play."

Vasquez led the 'Jackets to a first-period score, hitting Salcedo on a 33-yard strike with 4:30 on the clock, and one play after being sacked and nearly coughing up the ball.

The two-point conversion attempt failed, keeping the score at 6-0.

Williams struck again in the second, this time on a 7-yard run by Jesus Camarena with 5:06 left in the half. It capped a four-play, 44-yard drive that was set up by a 24-yard punt return by Vasquez.

Vasquez fond Diego Rivera all alone in the end zone for the conversion, and Williams was up 14-0 at the break.

The intermission talk, McDonald said, was about taking the kickoff of the second half back for a score, and the Yellowjackets nearly pulled it off with an exciting 79-yard return by Vasquez that was called back on a late block in the back.

The setback did not slow Williams down a bit, however, as Vasquez hit Pedro Boites on a 10-yard strike to open the possession, and despite a holding penalty, completed the 37-yard drive with a 24-yard strike to Salcedo with 9:54 left in the quarter.

Jose Rodriguez added the first of two extra points to make it 21-0.

"Our line did a great job blocking," Vasquez said. "They were communicating and picking up the blitzes and that let me get the ball off."

Williams capped the scoring with a quick strike in the fourth period, again Vasquez finding Salcedo, this time on an 8-yard touchdown connection. It was the only play of the possession, which was set up by a nice punt return by Rivera.

Williams finished with 180 yards of offense. Camarena had 72 yards rushing on eight carries.

But it was the defense that was the true star.

"Our defense flew to the ball," Vasquez said. "It is a great feeling."

McDonald said it was a lack of gang tackling that concerned him most coming out of the scrimmage, so he was particularly pleased with that aspect of the team's performance.

"But we still have to eliminated some mistakes ... if we are going to beat that team up the road," the coach said.