When Avier Elvira entered the locker room for halftime Friday night, he’d nearly set a new career-high in rushing yards.

After the No. 4-ranked Bears emerged for the second half, Elvira proceeded to crush his previous mark.

The Palmer Ridge senior had the first eight carries of the game and never stopped running as Elvira finished with a pair of scores and nearly 300 rushing yards in the 42-7 victory against No. 7 Vista Ridge at Don Breese Stadium.

“I was hungry,” Elvira said. “I wanted to run the ball and I played a patient game. I watched my blockers block and I read my blocks. I trusted my lines to create the holes that I needed to hit. And they did their job which allowed me to do mine.”

Against Durango on Oct. 11, Elvira had 21 carries for two touchdowns and 219 yards in a 24-21 victory on the road.

On Friday, Elvira had 201 yards at halftime and finished the game with 261 for the Bears, who improved to 7-1 with the win over Vista Ridge (5-3.)

“I give props to my O-line. It’s a team game and if they do their job, I can do mine. I trust my team,” Elvira said. “I can’t take all the credit for that. I play the game and trust my teammates and we get the job done.”

The Bears built a 28-0 halftime lead after scores from Elvira, Isaac Burks and Jack Mabe gave Palmer Ridge a cushion.

On chunk plays where Elvira fell shy of the end zone, Mabe, who also scored two touchdowns for the Bears, bullied his way through the Wolves’ defense to score.

Mabe scored on runs of 5 and 4 yards with his final touchdown giving Palmer Ridge a 28-0 lead with three seconds left in the first half.

“I trust my teammates and I knew they would do their jobs out there,” Mabe said. “We had to get the touchdown and I wanted to punch it in. So, it was everyone working together to make that work out there.”

On the Bears’ first drive of the third quarter, Elvira had six touches and 37 of Palmer Ridge’s 44 yards on the drive.  And the senior’s final run went for 7 and a touchdown to give the Bears a 35-0 lead.

Noah Leighty scored Palmer Ridge’s final touchdown of the game, his fourth of the season, on a 6-yard run to build a 42-0 lead for the Bears with 4 minutes left in the third.

The Wolves did manage one score, which came midway through the fourth quarter after Zayden Stevens eluded the defense and scored for Vista Ridge to cut the lead to 42-7 with 7 minutes left in the game.

“We trust the coaches and trusted their gameplan,” Mabe said. “I don’t know where we’d be without them. We’re going to continue to trust each other and trust our teammates and we’ll keep doing that going forward.”

Palmer Ridge has two games left before postseason play begins and, as of Friday night, are third in 4A’s RPI poll.

Should the Bears finish with a pair of wins against Rampart and Liberty, Palmer Ridge would finish 9-1, which would mark their third one-loss regular season since 2018.

“The team has gotten better each week since Week 1 and it’s amazing to see,” Elvira said. “I love this team and I love getting a (win) on a Friday night. It’s a great time with my boys and we want to keep this going.”