Central Catholic's Lomas & Vega put on show

CARSON -- Central Catholic's tailback substitution pattern is the same every week.

Ray Lomas gets the first series while Rey Vega is on the sidelines, watching his friend loosen up the defense with his bashing style of running.

That's what happened in Friday's 66-7 victory over Santa Fe Christian.

The Raiders won the toss and took the ball, gaining possession at their own 20. It was Lomas left and Lomas right, and seven Lomas carries later he was in the end zone.

Vega, meanwhile, was licking his chops.

"When I saw what Ray was doing, my goal became to score on the first play," Vega said. "I told everybody that on the sidelines, then I went out there and did it."

Yes, after Lomas bruised the Eagles on seven punishing carries, Vega whizzed by for a 60-yard score on his first touch.

Central Catholic led 14-0 only 4 minutes, 25 seconds, into the game. They hadn't thrown a pass and truthfully wouldn't need to the entire game. This game was over, but the competition between Ray and Rey was off and running.

Vega would finish with 202 yards and four scores on only six carries, giving his 1,527 yards and 28 touchdowns in the 10 games he played for the Raiders this season.

Lomas, with 183 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries, finished his senior year with 2,084 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns on 235 carries.

It's going to be some time before the area sees anything again like the Ray and Rey Show.

Or is it the Rey and Ray show?

"That's how it is with both of us, all the time," Lomas said. "I see him doing something and I have to do it better. It helps us to go back and forth like that."

Coach Roger Canepa knew it was going to be a blessing when Vega was able to join the team after sitting out the first six games following a transfer issue.

Not only was he adding a second special back to his offense, but one with fresh legs.

The question was how he was going to keep both of them happy, especially since the Raiders didn't figure to be playing a lot of close games where either would be needed much in the second half.

So if the competition wasn't going to come for Lomas and Vega on Friday night, it would have to come during the week.

"I challenged them and they got into that competition a little bit," Canepa said. "They both knew when they were getting their carries and they never wanted the other guy to out-do them.

"It was good, but they're good friends and the team fed off of their competition. We don't have any selfish people, and you win when everybody is in it for the right reasons."

Yet by alternating the backs during the games, Canepa was able to take advantage of the talents of both, while keeping them from being overworked.

"It gets frustrating at times because we always go back and forth," Lomas said. "We're good friends, we love each other and in our senior years we both won state."

Bee staff writer Brian VanderBeek can be reached at bvanderbeek@modbee.com or (209) 578-2150. Follow him at twitter.com/modestobeek.