Buffaloes cruise past Tatum

MELROSE — Tristan and Sterling Sena were together long before they were Melrose Buffalo teammates.

"It just goes back to before we even started playing football, back in like the first grade just in the backyard throwing to each other," Sterling Sena said. "It's just a connection, we have chemistry."

The only difference is they're bigger now, just as Melrose was bigger than Tatum in a 54-0 win Friday night.

The Sena brothers combined to account for four touchdowns, including Sterling's 81-yarder on the first offensive play and an 82-yard Sterling-to-Tristan pass to close out a 36-0 first quarter.

Melrose (3-0) also scored in the first on Carson Fraze 30-yard fumble return 34 seconds into the game and scoring runs of 26 yards by Fraze and 1 by Blake DeVaney.

"That was big, especially with a team like (Tatum)," Melrose coach Dickie Roybal said of the strong start. "I think that burst their bubble a little bit."

Tristan Sena added a score on the ground with a 15 yard run about midway through the second quarter, giving the Buffaloes four touchdowns through their first five offensive drives. He later returned an interception 15 yards to the house to put Melrose ahead 48-0 at the half.

The Buffaloes ended the game with 4:33 left in the third quarter on a 28-yard Fraze run — one last display of Melrose's speed being too much for the Coyotes to match.

"We never got on track," Tatum coach Gary Richardson said. "They're a good team, we knew it coming in. We just couldn't get on track, we never did. They just got on us from the get-go and we couldn't do much about it."

The Buffaloes held the Coyotes to just 16 yards of offense and two first downs.

"Just could never get our offense going," Richardson said. "We were about running out of plays to call to try to find something that would go and we never found anything."