Windsor uses strong 2nd half to beat Casa Grande 44-21

Windsor’s Jaguars dominated the second half Friday night to defeat the Casa Grande Gauchos, 44-21, in the season-opening football game for both teams.

Playing on the Gauchos’ field, Windsor outscored Casa Grande 27-7 in the final two quarters to spoil John Antonio’s debut as Casa Grande head coach and give Windsor coach Brad Stibi his first win.

Windsor debuted an impressive offense, led by the rushing of Lorenzo Leon and the passing of quarterback Billy Boyle.

Boyle threw for four touchdowns, with three going to wide receiver Nico Contreras.

The game turned just before the end of the first half. Casa Grande seemed headed into halftime with a 14-7 lead, the result of Dominic McHale’s leaping touchdown catch of Miguel Robertson’s pass and a 2-yard scoring run by Dominic Giomi that wa set up by a 46-yard connection between Robertson and Kobe Krnaich.

But with less than two minutes before the break, a bad snap forced the Casa Grande punter to step out of the end zone for a safety.

Following Casa Grande’s free kick, a punt, Windsor took advantage of a short field to go 36 yards in six plays, scoring on Boyle’s 14-yard pass to Laden Estrela for a 17-14 halftime advantage after a 2-point conversion run.

The first of the ?two Boyle-to-Contreras ?touchdowns opened the second-half scoring and the Jaguars kept growing their advantage over the final two periods.

The game was a typical season opener, with multiple penalties and execution miscues by both sides. Unofficially, Windsor was hit with 11 penalties and Casa Grande with eight.

“It was disappointing,” said Antonio, “but we’re only a week into the season. We gave them a short field too many times.”