Converted O-lineman Hugo Avila throws 6 TDs in Booker's win over Memphis
BOOKER — Wide receiver to cornerback. Linebacker to safety. Those are the type of positional changes you tend to see in football.
Offensive lineman to quarterback? Not so much.
Yet, that's the transition senior Hugo Avila has made for the Booker Kiowas. Friday night, it looked as though the transition is going pretty darn well.
Avila completed 16-of-23 passes for 248 yards and six touchdowns against the Memphis Cyclones.
That, plus an outstanding effort by the Kiowa defense, led Booker to a 39-6 victory on homecoming night. More important, it moved Booker to 3-1 on the season a year after going just 1-9.
"It feels great to be 3-1," Avila said. "We've turned it around, so far, so we'll try to keep it going."
"It" being a football program that hasn't made the playoffs since 2014. You wouldn't have believed that stat if you watched most of Friday's game.
The Kiowas got off to a slow start offensively and fell behind 6-0 thanks to a 33-yard touchdown run by Marco Flores of Memphis in the first quarter. The defense held strong until the offense warmed up, however, forcing three turnovers on the night, including two interceptions by Eduin Gallegos.
The Kiowas held the Cyclones to just four first downs and the defense deserves its credit for that. But it was the passing game that put the points on the board and allowed the Kiowas to claim a homecoming victory.
"Hugo is exceptional man," Booker coach Nic Williams said. "He's smart and that's the main thing. He's made a great transition from offensive line to quarterback. He does a great job for us. He's a general on the field, and he's definitely a general in the class room, which is what we like and want."
Not all of Avila's passes had the crisp spiral one would want in the second quarter, when the Kiowas were throwing into the wind. But he got the ball into the vicinity of his receivers, and his teammates did the rest. As the wind calmed down in the second half, Avila was spot on as he dropped dimes all across the field.
His touchdown passes were from 15, 24, 13, 53, 10 and 25 yards out and went to five different receivers as Jesus Jimenez caught two scores. Wearing the Homecoming King crown after the game didn't go to Avila's head as he was honest and modest about how the transition has been.
"At first it was a little tough," Avila said. "Having to learn all the signals and all that. I just trusted the coaches and they believed in me. I thank the coaches mostly just for believing in me."
The Kiowas will now have an extra day to prepare for a neutral-site game at 5 p.m. Sept. 24 against Morton at Amarillo Highland Park.
Though Avila, Williams, and the rest of the Kiowas were feeling ecstatic about moving to 3-1 Friday night, they don't consider themselves 3-1 entering the Morton game.
"(Our mindset has to be) 1-0," Avila said. "We have to work our tails off in practice. The ultimate goal is to go 1-0 each week."
Booker 39, Memphis 6
Memphis 6 0 0 0 -- 6
Booker 0 12 20 7 -- 39
First Quarter
Memphis- Marco Flores 33 run (2-pt no good) 3:46
Second Quarter
Booker- Leonel Banuelos 15 pass from Hugo Avila (kick no good) 3:20
Booker – Jesus Jimenez 24 pass from Avila (2-pt no good) 1:09
Third Quarter
Booker- Hagen Chisum 13 pass from Avila (Eduardo Cruz kick) 8:51
Booker- Jimenez 53 pass from Avila (2-pt no good) 7:02
Booker – Cruz 10 pass from Avila (Cruz kick) 0:39
Fourth Quarter
Booker – Tristin Nelson 25 pass from Avila (Cruz kick) 6:22
TEAM STATISTICS
Booker Memphis
First downs 12 4
Rushes-yards 29-70 32-77
Passing yards 248 24
Comp.-att.-int 16-23-0 4-16-2
Punts-avg. 3-17.7 3-26.0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-1
Penalties-yards 11-85 13-120
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Booker- Jesus Jimenez 10-9, Hugo Avila 6-(-14), Xavier Aguliera 5-29, Eduardo Cruz 8-46, Andres Jimenez 1-4
Memphis- Charlie Sepeda 16-47, Jonathan Martinez 2-(-8), Marco Flores 10-38, Isiah Martinez 2-0, Leo Flores 1-3, Kaden Vela 1-(-3),
PASSING
Memphis- Isaiah Martinez 1-2-0 0, Leo Flores 3-14-2 34
Booker- Hugo Avila 16-23-0 248
RECEIVING
Booker- Leonel Banuelos 1-15, Tristin Nelson 3-30, Eduin Gallegos 3-20, Jesus Jimenez 2-77, Adrian Rosales 1-4, Angel Sanchez, Eduardo Cruz 1-10, Andres Jimenez , Julian Rosales, Aiden Parvin, Xavier Aguilerra 1-10, Hagen Chisum 4-82
Memphis- Kaden Vela 1-(-1) Nick Avida 3-35
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Converted O-lineman Hugo Avila throws 6 TDs in Booker's win over Memphis
