A furious second half comeback wasn’t enough for the Lehman Lobos as they fell 33-17 to the San Antonio John Jay Mustangs (3-1) in front of a homecoming crowd Friday at Bob Shelton Stadium.
An early first quarter interception by Jay senior cornerback Nathan Garcia set up a 39-yard rushing touchdown by Mustangs junior running back Jaylin Hastings, which gave Jay an early 7-0 lead.
Hastings led the Mustangs rushing attack with 19 carries for 165 yards and one touchdown.
“First half we came out and had just a couple of weird situations happen there,” Lehman head coach Josh Kirkland said. “We thought we had a free play, but they didn’t call the penalty, and we threw an interception. So we put the defense in a bad position.”
Lehman responded well to the early adversity with a 17-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Daniel O’Neal to freshman wide receiver Bryant Lewis. However, O’Neal exited the game in the second quarter due to injury and didn’t return.
As a result, the Lobo’s offense, which lost its identity after O’Neal’s injury, didn’t score another point in the first half.
“Had our quarterback and running back both get hurt in the first series, and had to play the whole game with a freshman quarterback,” said Kirkland. “Now he is a stud, but we had to make a lot of adjustments to make things simple for him.”
As the Lobo offense struggled, the Mustangs rounded out the first half with multiple rushing touchdowns.
Senior running back Jonathan Gamez had a 4-yard rushing touchdown to end the first quarter, while sophomore wide receiver Danny Amezquita scored on a five-yard touchdown run, which expanded Jay’s lead to 27-7 at halftime. Gamez finished the game with 34 yards rushing and one touchdown on 7 carries.
Kirkland remained confident in his team; he told them at halftime that they were going to win the game by fighting hard and making some adjustments.
“I told them to come out and fight,” Kirkland said. “If we did some good things we would have a real shot to try and comeback and win that game.”
Jay opened up the second half with a 23-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Jacob Zeno to sophomore wide receiver Marcus Alcaraz. Zeno went 7 of 19 for 121 yards passing.
Lehman relied on its two headed rushing attack of sophomore running back Diego Romero and wide receiver Bryant Lewis, who filled in as the emergency quarterback, to spearhead a comeback attempt.
Romero led the team in carries with 21 for 64 yards, while Lewis flashed his electrifying potential with 17 carries for 130 yards, including a 63-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter.
“You know, we come out and score first time we touch it,” Kirkland said. “Really was proud of them for fighting. We’ve been selling that to get better and better.”
A 31-yard field goal by Lobo senior kicker Mark Piedra put Lehman within 16 points of the Mustangs with only five minutes remaining in the game.
But the late comeback was cut short as the Jay offense ran out the clock behind Hastings and Gamez.
Despite the loss, Kirkland said he was proud of the way his defense played.
“We gave up one touchdown in the second half, which is great for us,” said Kirkland. “Really other than one or two series our defense played their butt off tonight, really, really proud of them.”
Lehman opens district play Friday against the Vista Ridge Rangers (2-2) at Bob Shelton Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
