John Hasselmeier
For the Times Record News
LUBBOCK -- With its offense sputtering in the first half, the Hirschi Huskies really needed a spark in their non-district football game against Portales, N.M., Saturday night at Lowrey Field.
C.J. Turner provided that spark as he returned an interception and a punt for consecutive Hirschi touchdowns to help lead the Huskies to a 31-6 victory.
The Huskies scored on their second possession of the game on a 29-yard pass from Caymon Edmonds to Darius Thornton, but Hirschi also lost two fumbles and had 10 penalties in the first half, too.
"I think we struggled a little bit offensively," Hirschi coach Neal Searcy said. "We made some good plays on offense, but I want to see our offense click more consistently."
In stepped Turner. With Hirschi clinging to a 7-0 lead going into the second period, Turner intercepted Portales quarterback Chris Mosier at the 26 and returned it for a touchdown.
"I just caught the ball and took it back," a smiling Turner said. "LaRay Mitchell just made that last block for me and I took it to the house."
Edmunds added the extra point to give Hirschi a 14-0 lead with 9:05 to go in the first half.
That's how the score stayed for a while until Mosier went back to punt for the fourth time. It carried 36 yards, but Turner gathered it in at the Huskies 42 and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown.
"The whole team blocked for me on the punt return," Turner said. "They just did what they had to do. They had to hold them (the Rams' coverage team) up and they held them up and I just ran it in."
Edmonds added another extra point to make it 21-0 with 3:24 to go in the first period.
Edmonds also threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Thornton and kicked a 36-yard field goal. He completed nine passes in 18 attempts for 134 yards.
While the offense did struggle at times, Hirschi's defense didn't, holding the Rams to eight first downs and 101 total yards.
"We played pretty good defensively tonight," Searcy said. "I was proud of the way those guys played."
That total included minus-10 yards on the ground. That total would have been even more impressive, but Rams running back Ricky Lovato scored from the 13 in the fourth period
Hirschi is now 2-0 while Portales falls to 0-2.
"We're better this week on offense, defense, special teams than we were last week and that’s what we asked the kids to do, get better every week," Searcy said. "It feels great to be 2-0.
"The mentality of our kids has changed a little bit. They expect to win every time they step on the football field. The first two games this year, they've done that. We're looking forward to getting back on the field next week and trying to make it 3-0."
Hirschi took the opening kickoff and drove deep into Ram territory. However, running back Xavier McCarty fumbled and Portales linebacker Travis Field recovered at the 15.
Portales went on a long drive, but McCarty got a measure of revenge when a snap went over Mosier's head and the Hirschi linebacker recovered it at the Ram 37.
Six plays later, Edmonds hit Thornton for the 29-yard touchdown. Edmonds added the extra point and the Huskies led 7-0 with 4:04 to go in the first period.
Turner staked that lead to 21-0 by halftime with his scoring interception and punt returns.

Hirschi 31, Portales (N.M.) 6
P H
First Downs 8 11
Rushes-yards 22-(-10) 30-121
Passing-yards 111 134
Comp-Att-Int 14-31-2 9-18-0
Punts 9-29.9 4-36.5
Fumbles-lost 2-1 5-3
Penalties-yards 2-15 13-100

Portales 0 0 0 0--6
Hirschi 7 14 3 7--31
H -- Darius Thornton 29 pass from Caymon Edmonds (Edmonds kick)
H -- C.J. Turner 26 interception return (Edmonds kick)
H -- Turner 58 punt return (Edmonds kick)
H -- Edmonds 36 field goal
P -- Ricky Lavato 13 run (kick failed)
H -- Thornton 16 pass from Edmonds (Edmonds kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- (P) Lovato, 8-26; Michael Trujillo, 5-8; Brandon McAfee, 1-(-5); Team, 1-19; Chris Mosier 7-(-20); (H) David Jones, 9-55; Xavier McCarty, 7-38; Edmonds, 10-25; Thornton, 3-5; Tevin Thomas, 1-(-2).
PASSING -- (P) Mosier, 11-25-2-77, Trujillo, 3-6-0-34; (H) Edmonds, 9-18-0-134.
RECEIVING -- (P) McAfee, 4-43; Brandon Adkins, 4-28; Lovato, 2-22; Shawn Carrasco, 2-14; Trujillo, 2-0; (H) Thornton 4-75; LaRay Mitchell, 2-45; Turner, 2-23; Marquise Wiley, 1-1.

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