SPORTS — Rams fall to Tivy 54-7 in opener

By Joel Langton
The 830 Times

It was a night of firsts at Walter Levermann Ram Stadium Friday night.

It was Daniel Infante’s first game as a head coach. It was the first real test for the new offense and defense he and his staff have spent the summer installing.

And, unfortunately for Rams fans, it was Del Rio’s first loss of the season as Kerrville Tivy handed the Rams a 54-7 defeat. It was also the team’s 11th consecutive loss as Infante works to right the ship.

Tivy jumped on Del Rio early, scoring 28 points in the first quarter and building a 45-7 halftime lead. The Antlers added nine points in the third quarter before both teams went scoreless in the fourth.

Del Rio had four turnovers, two were immediately turned into six points.  

Infante said the final score was ugly, but many of the problems he saw were self-inflicted — and correctable.

“We had a lot of errors on our own. Shot ourselves in the foot,” Infante said. “Are they correctable mistakes? Yeah, they are. And we’re going to go back to the drawing board.”

Infante said Del Rio has to improve its decision-making with the football on offense, while defensively the Rams need to stop allowing big plays and do a better job of getting off the field on third down.

Despite the lopsided score, Del Rio did have success moving the football. The Rams recorded 17 first downs and ran 75 offensive plays, but repeatedly failed to finish drives.

The Rams used a two-quarterback system, with Rodrigo Carmona completing 12 of 23 passes for 105 yards and Jesse Mojica going 8-of-14 for 82 yards as the pair combined for 187 passing yards.

Nathen Mojica led the Del Rio running game with 82 yards and scored the Rams’ only touchdown, while Ethan Dobbins finished with 98 receiving yards.

Infante said mistakes played a major role in allowing the game to get away from the Rams.

“We gave up, just off our bonehead plays, about 28 points to them, and that’s not even joking around about that,” Infante said. “I think we eliminate those mistakes, that score is a little bit closer.”

Infante said the Rams also had opportunities to make the game more competitive offensively but couldn’t turn promising possessions into points.

“We’ve got to finish those drives,” he said. “We’ve got to get off the field on third down and then, of course, make better decisions with the football.”

There were positives Infante could take from his first night as a head coach.

He pointed to the Rams’ competitiveness throughout the game and said players continued fighting despite the score. More importantly for a program trying to establish a new culture, Infante said there was no finger-pointing on the sideline as the game slipped away.

“No matter what the score was, we were going to fight all the way through,” Infante said.

He also praised the defense for continuing to rally to the football despite repeatedly being put in difficult situations and said the offense showed it could move the ball.

Infante said those moments offered glimpses of what the Rams could eventually become, but cautioned that the rebuilding process is only beginning.

“The foundation is barely being laid,” Infante said. “I think the concrete’s barely drying right now on that foundation.”

Del Rio, 0-1, will get its next opportunity to build on that foundation Friday when the Rams host San Antonio Stevens at 7:30 p.m. at Walter Levermann Ram Stadium.