Castle Rock – To set the record straight, no, Eric Longoria, a junior running back at Mountain Vista, is not related to Eva Longoria, the popular actress.
“Everyone asks me that,” he said. “I tell some people I’m related to her and they go, ‘Oh, she’s hot!’ I tell them I can’t say anything about her because she’s a family member.”
It’s a nice running joke Longoria enjoys, but his current focus is helping the Golden Eagles make the adjustment to Class 5A.
But there was nothing funny about Saturday’s 33-12 victory over Ponderosa at Douglas County Stadium, one in which Longoria ran for 148 yards and three touchdowns as Mountain Vista had a smashing debut in 5A and its new 10-team Continental League.
The Golden Eagles are taking it seriously.
“There’s no games off in this league,” coach Ric Cash said.
Combining strong play up front on both sides, the running of Longoria and Gavin Gildon, and the passing of left-hander Danny Beck, Mountain Vista also took advantage of five Ponderosa turnovers in all but putting away the game by the second quarter.
After scoring on their opening drive – Beck connected with Matt Tuten on a 24-yard touchdown pass – the Golden Eagles, who didn’t punt until halfway through the fourth quarter, benefited from the Mustangs losing fumbles on four consecutive possessions.
Longoria’s touchdown runs of 47 yards and 1 yard, sandwiched around a fumble recovery in the end zone, by Tyler Whitmer made it 26-0 4:46 before halftime.
Mountain View’s lines were particularly effective in opening holes for Longoria and constantly pressuring Ponderosa quarterback Kris Kreymbourg, including from the perimeter.
“We were concerned about our offensive line, everyone was,” Longoria said. “But we came out together and executed. We did good.”
Cash agreed: “We’re still trying to get a more consistent running game, but, yeah, overall, we did well.”
Mountain Vista rushed for 236 yards and Beck was 8-of-18 passing for 76 more.
For Ponderosa, former assistant Randy Huff, taking over for veteran Jamie Woodruff, said his team’s “inexperience was a little more glaring than I anticipated … and we wondered about their intensity at the half, if we could have played as hard as we could. We were playing hesitant.”
In purposely simplifying his team’s approach, Huff said he wanted to “water things down and execute what we could. Then we tried to spread it out a little bit, but we need more work there.”
Kreymbourg had two 1-yard touchdown runs for the Mustangs.
But it’s a Golden Eagles team that answered some questions and gained necessary encouragement about competing in 5A.
“We moved from 3A to 4A and now 5A, and we know 5A’s a big thing,” Longoria said. “We know every game will be big.”
Mountain Vista 13 13 7 0 – 33
Ponderosa 0 6 0 6 – 12
MV – Tuten 24 pass from Beck (Moffitt kick). MV – Longoria 47 run (kick failed). MV – Whitmer fumble recovery in end zone (Moffitt kick). MV – Longoria 1 run (kick failed). P – Kreymbourg 1 run (kick failed). MV – Longoria 4 run (Moffitt kick). P – Kreymbourg 1 run (pass failed).
Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
