Week one couldn’t have gone any smoother for the Hilmar Yellowjackets varsity football team when they traveled down the road to take on the Delhi High Hawks to kickoff the new season.
The defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division-VI champions came out and struck early on, scoring five touchdowns in the opening quarter alone and secured the 48-7 win.
“A fight put up by Delhi all game,” said Hilmar head coach Frank Marques. “First of all, I really appreciate coming over to Delhi, they are so hospitable. Only five miles away, so it was a nice and easy trip. Our kids did what they had to do, they performed and our kids made their plays and we are coming out of here fairly healthy.”
“It was a good test for us. Our guys came out and we hit them back, but I think the inexperience got to us tonight,” said Delhi coach Erik Martinez.
It took two plays for Hilmar to get on the board when Isaac Sharp busted loose on his first carry of the game for a 50-yard score.
Marcus Alvarez of Hilmar then followed up with a fumble returned for a touchdown just two plays later from 15-yards out and the score read 14-0 after less than two minutes in.
Following a three and out, Sharp returned the punt for 45 yards into the two-yard line, then Justin Rentfro carried the ball twice, scoring on the second carry on a second down from a yard out to make it 21-0.
Bryan Millan of Hilmar scored from five yards out with 5:23 left in the first quarter that extended the lead to 28-0.
Sharp then followed up with his second touchdown of the game after he returned an interception from 25-yards out with 4:24 left in the game to extend the lead to 35-0.
Hilmar’s back-ups came in before the first quarter ended.
Steven Silva of Hilmar returned an interception 60-yards to the opposite end zone with 9:15 left in the second quarter and the lead was extended to 41-0.
Delhi scored their only touchdown of the game when Daniel Torres tossed a 71-yard pass with four minutes left in the second quarter.
Justin Barros of Hilmar scored the final touchdown of the game with 53 seconds left in the third to extend the lead to 48-7.
“I think it is great for us and this prepares us for league, our guys learned a lot tonight,” said Martinez. “The biggest thing was we didn’t quit and never stopped fighting, we made mistakes but it happens, we move on and learn from it.”
Hilmar will next travel to Los Banos to take on the Tigers for the first time since 1956, with the game starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Delhi will next travel on the road to take on Johansen at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
