After a rough start to their first season in the Monticello Empire League, the Pioneer High School varsity football team now looks to have found its league legs with two straight wins after taking down Wood, allowing them to celebrate their homecoming in style thanks to a crisp 23-6 win Friday night.

Despite losing Landon Dahler’s rushing services early in the first half, the next man stepped up for Pioneer (record) as junior Joe Mendez took on a massive rushing workload, scoring two touchdowns and milking countless minutes off the fourth-quarter clock. A touchdown from senior tight end Alex Macias and a field goal from Jayden Tamayo were all the Pioneer players needed to get back to a .500 record.

The Patriots (5-3, 2-2 MEL) came into the game after a close 14-10 road win over River City last week. Before that, however, they endured a rude welcome to the new league following a 36-0 loss to powerhouse Vacaville and a closer but no less hurtful 39-14 loss to Sacramento on Sept. 28. After wins over River City and now Wood, Pioneer is back to controlling its own playoff destiny.

“This win gives us a shot to do the things that we want to do,” said Pioneer coach Jason Whitfield. “It gives us a chance to try to get into the playoffs. The ball is in our court, and we have to get some wins. This win will put us in a good position to continue to fight as well. It’s always fun to get a win on homecoming, and it provided an extra bit of juice tonight.”Wood (1-6, 0-3 MEL) came into the contest on tough times following losses to Sacramento and River City before the bye week. An extra week of practice wasn’t enough for the Wildcats, who found it hard to get any sustained drives on offense or stops on defense.

“I think we flew around on defense,” Whitfield said. “We started as a group understanding what we wanted to do and what offenses wanted to do to us, and at the end of the day, we swam 11 to the ball. As a coach, we can’t ask any more than that.”

Junior Easton Medina led the team in tackles with 13, while senior Tiburcio Silva came in second with 11. Nicco Hargrove led the way with 1.5 sacks, while Rick Reister got the team’s only interception late in the fourth quarter.

Thanks to a chip-shot field goal from Tamayo, the Patriots hit the scoreboard first, going up 3-0 with five minutes left in the first quarter.

Following a long Wood drive, Pioneer’s defense held strong deep in their own territory and forced a turnover on downs, giving the home side possession as the second quarter began.

After teams traded a few punts, Pioneer took over possession with about five minutes left in the half and made the most out of it.

Mendez, who had now taken over the backfield in place of Dahler, ripped off a huge 20-plus yard run to set up Pioneer in the red zone.

A few plays later, they’d work the ball to the 3-yard line, and on second down, quarterback Braulio Acevedo rolled out to his right on a play action and found his huge tight end target Macias in the end zone for a nice touchdown to go up 10-0.

“That was my second touchdown of the year, so I’m pretty happy,” Macias said. “They were covering me very well the first time we ran that play. When we ran it the second time, I was wide open, so I knew I was going to get the ball in the end zone.”.

The Patriots came out of the break and homecoming celebration a bit unfocused as Acevedo threw an interception on the first play of the third quarter. In the end, however, all it cost Pioneer was some game time, as Wood soon punted the ball back to them.

At midfield, Acevedo would find offensive stud Devion Corley down the field for the second time of the night on a 26-yard pass to set them up deep inside the Wildcats’ territory.

Corley finished the game with 3 catches for 63 yards.

Once they got to the 8-yard line, Mendez did what he did all night and carried the Patriots into the end zone to make it 17-0.

“That kid was on fire tonight,’ Whitfield said. “I’m so proud of Joe. He ran his butt off tonight. He was doing his thing, and I’m very proud of him. A big shout-out to his offensive line because he can’t do it without the big boys upfront. They did their job, and he did his job plus some.”

With just under eight minutes to go, Wood finally got on the board to make the game’s dying moments a bit more interesting. However, they’d go on to miss the extra point, complicating things for them as they were down 17-6.

On the ensuing kickoff, Pioneer returner Tiburcio Silva received the ball and returned it just past midfield, setting the home side up nicely to try to milk some more clock, and they did just that.

Mendez, who was getting better with every carry, got the ball four straight times, including on a short fourth down play, and picked up a huge first down. Then, on the next play, as a reward for all his tough-nosed running, Mendez got the ball and rumbled down the field for a 33-yard touchdown run, icing the game at 23-6.

“I took a lot of hits tonight, but I had to fight through it, and I feel it was a great result we got,” Mendez said after the game. “That last drive, giving me the ball that much, showed me the coaches believe in me, and they believe in my talent. The offensive line did a great job of hitting their blocks, especially with the pulling plays. Really good blocks helped me get into the end zone.”

Mendez finished the game with a massive 26 carries for 199 yards and the two scores.

“I’m ecstatic to see him take on all the carries,” Whitfield said. “I have that next man up mentality, so that’s how it has to be. If you want to win games and make runs in the playoffs, you need to be a next-man-up type of guy. He showed that tonight.”

Up next for Pioneer will be a much-needed bye week as they look to get healthy for the season’s final stretch.

“This bye could not have come at a better time,” Whitfield explained. “I’m just excited to give the guys a little break. This is a good time to get healthy, back off the boys and make it more of a mental game. I’m excited to potentially be at full health when we get out of the bye week.”

Follwoing a week off, Pioneer will end its season with a senior night home clash against Rodriguez on Oct. 25, followed by a season finale road tilt against Vanden set for Nov. 1.