No QB? No problem. Dolores Huerta earns first victory of the season against Justice

Dolores Huerta Prep had its first home game of the season on Saturday, hosting Justice High School.

The Scorpions — who were winless up to this point — came out aggressive and were able to pick up their first victory 26-14 over Justice, despite losing their starting quarterback.

Wide receiver Jose Garcia carried the load for the Scorpions, scoring two touchdowns and throwing for another after he and Jose Rubio split quarterback duties after Bryan Mendoza went down with a strained calf.

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No QB, no problem

The Scorpions' defense was stellar from the start, holding Justice's offense every chance they got. Early in the first quarter, Mendoza dropped back and scrambled down the sidelines to eventually break away and outrun everyone; however, as he crossed the 50-yard line, he came up limping and was forced to leave the game.

The first quarter ended in a 0-0 tie. Early in the second quarter, Garcia received a pass from Rubio for a touchdown that was called back due to a flag. On the next play, Garcia tossed the ball on a reverse play to Marcos Lerma to put the home team ahead 6-0.

The game was 6-0 heading into halftime; the Scorpions' defense was stepping up with Garcia even getting an interception late in the second quarter to prevent a scoring opportunity for the Phoenix.

In the third quarter, Garcia hauled in a pass and took it 70 yards for the touchdown and a two-point conversion made it a 14-0 game. A few series later, Justice intercepted the ball and took it 90 yards for the score to make it a 14-6 game.

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Late in the third quarter, Michael Gonzales took the ball and ran in it from 20 yards out to make it 20-6 in favor of the Scorpions. The Phoenix scored again later in the fourth quarter to make it 20-14; however, Garcia sealed the victory for the Scorpions as he scored again late in the fourth to make the final score 26-14.

Head Coach Tom Grasmick spoke about the team's performance after the game.

"The boys played tough today," Grasmick said. "We faced some adversity early when Bryan went down, but our 'Joses' Rubio and Garcia, stepped up and stepped in admirably and effectively. Defensively, the kids were stellar, shutting down their vertical passing attack. Our defensive coordinator, Brandon Franklin, had a heck of a game plan and the kids executed it almost to perfection."

Although he was pleased with his team's effort today in their first victory of the season, as with any good coach, there are still some things he would like to work on.

"We still need to clean up the untimely penalties that cost us on the offensive side of the ball," Grasmick said. "But we will dig into the film and go to work to get ready for Springfield next week."

The Scorpions are on the road next week as they face off against their final non-league opponent of the season in Springfield. The game will be at 1 p.m. on Sept. 23.

Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Dolores Huerta wins home opener over Justice, Garcia leads team