The Miami Vandals wasted no time spoiling the San Carlos Braves’ Homecoming last week, jumping to a 13-0 lead in the game’s first couple of minutes before waltzing to a 62-0 win.

“You never want to take games lightly, but we wanted to crisp things up and get ready for the next few weeks,” said Miami head coach Brandon Powell. “We wanted to get things nailed down, get our timing down on our misdirection plays and get ready for the next few games.”

After grabbing a 13-0 lead, the Vandal defense forced San Carlos to punt with 6:56 left in the first quarter. Jaime Pena came up with an 80-yard touchdown return, and Gabriel Garcia added the PAT for a 20-0 lead.

After another San Carlos punt, Miami took over possession in San Carlos territory. Angel Pena had a short gain just as the first quarter ended. Daniel Gutierrez Jr. picked up 22 yards on a quarterback keeper to bring the Vandals to the eight-yard line.

Larenz Combs scored on an eight-yard carry, followed by another Garcia PAT that gave Miami a 27-0 lead with 11:22 left in the first half. The Braves continued to struggle offensively, with snap miscues causing them to lose yardage, eventually punting with 8:27 left in the half.

After taking over, Combs had a nice run to push Miami into Braves territory where Gutierrez Jr. scored a touchdown on a 26-yard run.

Miami’s defense continued to flourish, pushing the Braves towards their own end zone. San Carlos faced third down from the four-yard line; the Vandals were able to come up with the safety with 5:27 left in the half for a 35-0 lead.

Following the safety, the Braves punted and Miami took over on the  Braves’ 35-yard line. Wasting no time, Combs scored again for a 41-0 lead.

Miami coasted in the second half, playing different players throughout.

“We brought up a lot of the freshmen to play tonight in the second half,” said Powell. “The younger guys played well. My first string guys didn’t look quite as good as they should have and we pulled them a little earlier than we thought we would.”

The Vandals improved to 5-2 on the season but will put their four-game win streak on the line next week when they travel to top-ranked Morenci. The following week the Vandals will travel to second-ranked Pima, the most difficult stretch of the season.

“We are going to get after it and try to increase the intensity,” said Powell. “(Morenci) is tough, real tough. They come off the ball hard. We are going to have to control them on the defensive side and keep the points down."