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The Bearcats traveled to Santo this past
Friday night for a very big district game.
A Bearcat win coupled with Tolar
defeating Perrin-Whitt would guarantee the Bearcats their first post
season appearance in years.
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DEFENSE!!
Matt Nowlin, M.J. Stewart and Jeremy Lindley all prepare
themselves for the snap of the ball this past Friday night. |
From the start of the game DeLeon
physically dominated the Wildcats, but they committed two turnovers
that really set the Bearcats back in the first half of play.
About midway through the first quarter of
play, the Bearcats fumbled the ball to Santo on their own 40-yard
line.
Seven plays later, the Wildcats would
capitalize on the Bearcat miscue and score on a one-yard sneak by the
quarterback to take an early 0-7 lead.
The Bearcats would start their next drive
on their own 30-yard line.
They were able to drive the ball deep
into Wildcat territory and were looking to score and tie the game when
they committed their second fumble of the night at Santo’s 5-yard
line.
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GAME STATS. |
|
|
DeLeon |
Santo |
|
1st Downs |
22 |
8 |
|
Rushing |
314 |
111 |
|
Passing |
20 |
7 |
|
Punts |
1-35 |
5-196 |
|
Penalties |
3-15 |
5-35 |
|
Turnovers |
2 |
0 |
The Bearcats would take over the football
again with about 5 minutes left in the half and the ball on their own
20-yard line.
They would lethargically move the ball
down the field while eating up all the time on the clock. With just
seven seconds left in the half, L.C. Williams would plunge into the
end zone from 3-yards out to tie the game at 7-7.
The second half of play looked very
similar to the first as the Bearcats would continue their physical
domination of Santo, but without the turnovers.
DeLeon pinned Santo inside their own
10-yard line after a great kick and coverage by the Bearcats special
teams.
Before the night was over, the special
teams for DeLeon would be responsible for pinning the Wildcats inside
their own 10-yard line three times.
After forcing Santo to punt, the Bearcats
would drive 51-yards on 10 plays before Williams would score again.
This time he would score from 5-yards out.
The Bearcats would go on to score two
more times. Gustavo Calzada, who has not missed an extra point all
season, kicked a 32-yard field goal, and Williams scored another
touchdown from 5-yards out.
The final score of the game was 24-7 in
the Bearcat’s favor.
Although Williams scored all three DeLeon
touchdowns, rushed for 160-yards and was the leading passer with one
completion for 20-yards, the offensive line for the Bearcats was the
difference in the game.
The o-line opened huge holes for the
DeLeon running backs and were consistently driving the Santo defensive
lineman off of the line of scrimmage.
Defensively, the Bearcats were led by
Matt Nowlin who recorded 10 tackles and two sacks.
The Bearcats have a very big game ahead
of them this week as they will be hosting the Gorman Panthers on
Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
If DeLeon is able to defeat the Panthers,
they will either force a three way tie for first between DeLeon,
Gorman and Tolar or give the Bearcats a second place finish in
district.
The game also has some other interesting
twists as Coach Billy Fox and Zack Fox will make their first return
visit to Bearcat country since last season’s departure.
Coach Fox was the defensive coordinator
for the Bearcats for years under Grady West, which included being the
defensive mastermind behind the 1990 state finalist team that shut-out
11 opponents, before taking over the athletic director’s job here in
DeLeon just two years ago.
He is now the defensive coordinator for
the Panthers while his son, Zack, plays both offense and defense for
Gorman. |
