Despite throwing for more than 1,000 yards in the first five games of the season, Nogales High quarterback Keith Zuniga didn’t have much to smile about until Friday. That’s when the Apaches won their second straight game, and began Kino Region play by beating guest Sahuaro High 40-13 on Homecoming night.

After making one of his five catches Friday night, Nogales High’s Robert Villegas tries to outrun Sahuaro’s Fernando Aguilar (4), while Jose Esquival (10) provides blocking. Villegas scored on touchdown passes of 72 and 9 yards during the contest.

“That was awesome. That was a team effort,” Villanucci told his team after the game. “I’m proud of you guys. What did I say? We can be really good. We were really good tonight. We had a good week of practice, and it pays off.”

“They did a good,” added a frustrated Sahuaro coach Scott McKee. “That’s it. That’s all I have to say. Nuch does a good job with the guys.”

One of those guys was Zuniga, who has verbally committed to pitch for the University of Arizona baseball team. He threw for five touchdowns and more than 350 yards on the night to a slew of receivers. Two of those receivers, though, may have had the Cougars seeing double when twins Robert and Camilo Villegas combined for four of those touchdowns on seven completions. Steve Solis added the other passing score�”the longest of the night�”when he took a third quarter catch 97 yards into the end zone to give the Apaches a 33-7 lead.

It wasn't just the Zuniga-led Air Apache attack, though, that baffled Sahuaro. A renewed emphasis on defense�”inspired by head coach Vince Villanucci, who handed the offensive play calling to assistant O.J. Favela�”helped Nogales hold the Cougars to just two scores.

“I was a defensive guy my whole life and we had a long talk and we just decided that I should solely concentrate on the defense and O.J. run the offense,” Villanucci said. “It’s working pretty good so far.”

The Apaches shut out Flowing Wells last week with the help of linebacker Gilbert Duran, who spearheaded Nogales’ defense with 21 tackles. While Duran had another fine night against Sahuaro, it was the decision to put Kevin Rosas and Camilo Villegas�”who hadn’t played for a few weeks after he quit the team but rejoined�”into the defensive backfield together that made the difference. The duo dominated the game from their safety positions by keep a close eye on receivers and rushing the line on run support against a Sahuaro offense that ran the ball 30 times and passed it 29.

“He showed them how good he is on defense, too,” said Villanucci about Villegas. “Their quarterback (Kevin Ackerley) broke a few scrambles, but they didn’t break a big one all night.”

Ackerley, though, did run one in on a 4-yard jaunt late in the second quarter, and passed for one on a 28-yarder to Fernando Aguilar with less than two minutes in the game.

While that was all the Cougars could muster, Rosas added Nogales’ only rushing TD of the night when he plunged in from two yards out with 4:48 left in the third quarter. That touchdown came after he intercepted an Ackerley pass in the second quarter, which led to Camilo Villegas’s second score�”a 14-yarder from Zuniga, which put the Apaches up 19-0.

“I just read the play pretty good. I can tell when the ball is going to be overthrown �- so I saw it, caught it and just took off. I really got pumped up,” Rosas said. “In practice we just step it up every time we go on defense. We just try to play hard every single play.”

The win put Nogales on top of the Kino Region standing with Cienega, and has given them renewed hope after a dismal 0-4 start against mostly high-powered opponents.

“We’re going to get that respect back,” said Favela. “We screwed up at the beginning of the season, but you know what, we’re playing football now.”

Zuniga echoed that sentiment.

“This is the start of something good,” he said. “We started off rusty, but we’re coming back together and playing as a team.”

And with Camilo Villegas back on that team, Zuniga has yet another options when he wants to air it out.

“He practiced hard all week, and we all knew he was going to be something big for us when he came back, so he did his job today,” Zuniga said of Camilo Villegas. “That’s what everybody knows him for, scoring and making big plays. It’s great to have them both (in the lineup now).”