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The DeLeon Bearcat Football team lost to
the Tolar Rattlers last Friday night by a score of 14-28 in Tolar.
The Bearcats showed improvements in every
aspect of the game, but fell short. A late, meaningless touchdown near
the end by the Rattlers gave the appearance of a more lopsided game,
but DeLeon was knocking on the door throughout most of the game.
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WELCOME BACK. Kevin Smith cuts in to avoid a Tolar
tackler in his return to playing status. |
DeLeon was able to move the ball on
offense, stop Tolar on defense, and played well on special teams.
Despite the fact that Tolar’s line outweighed DeLeon’s line by an
average of 25 lbs per man, and their running backs outweighed the
Bearcats’ ball carriers by 20 lbs per man, DeLeon showed they could
play with a larger team.
Personnel changes caused some
substitution problems. Penalties hurt the team in key situations, but
the coaches left the game with more positives than negatives to work
on.
The team benefited from the return of
Kevin Smith and Pedro Calzada, and Aaron Koonce and Mason Stewart
played more important rolls than in previous weeks. The two freshmen
were recently moved up from junior varsity. David Withers was also
used more to clog up the middle of the defense against a pounding
Rattler offense. Freshman Kody Travis, who has played the “disrupter”
for the opponents’ offenses, was unavailable due to sickness.
DeLeon scored on their first possession.
The Bearcats completed a 73 yard drive on six plays, led by Smith on
carries of 10 and 46 yards. Calzada carried the ball up the middle on
a cut back for the last 10 yards. Calzada also kicked the extra point
conversion, and DeLeon led 7-0.
Tolar immediately answered on the next
possession. Taking over the ball on their own 31 yard line, the
Rattlers pounded the ball in, mostly on carries by Nick Miller, their
195 lbs senior running back. Tolar also converted the PAT and tied the
game at 7-7 with 4:45 left in the first quarter.
The Bearcats drove the ball 44 yards to
the Rattler 24 yard line on the next possession before the drive
stalled and was turned over on downs.
Tolar took the ball and drove the 76
yards for a score on 15 plays, once having to convert a 4th and one.
Garrett Medford, the Rattlers’ 210 lbs senior running back punched in
the final yard with 6:03 on the second quarter clock. Again, the PAT
was successful, and Tolar led 14-7.
DeLeon found it difficult to overcome
mistakes on their first possession of the second half. Being flagged
for illegal procedure and holding on consecutive snaps, the Bearcats
failed to overcome a first down and 25 from their own 10 yard line.
The Rattlers took the punt on DeLeon’s
side of the field, and carried it to the 25. Four plays later, Austin
Hattox carried the ball into pay dirt for a score. The PAT attempt
failed, and the Rattlers extended the lead to 20-7.
DeLeon scored again early on the next
possession. Taking the ball 72 yard from the end zone, Clayton Stokes
hit Smith on a 12 yard pass. He later hit Cody Welch on a 7 yard pass.
Welch followed with carries of 15 and 3 yards. After getting sacked,
Stokes hit Smith again for 11 yards.
The Bearcats were faced with their first
of three fourth down conversions in the drive. On fourth and one,
Stokes ran a quarterback sneak that netted two yards and a first down.
Later, Deleon converted a fourth and six. As the fourth quarter ended,
the Bearcats were facing a fourth and 15, which produced the most
exciting play of the game.
After the teams lined up for the fourth
quarter, Stokes vacated the quarterback position on a shift and lined
up near the left sidelines. Smith stepped under center and took the
snap. He threw a backward pass to the right sideline that was caught
by Mason Stewart. Steward then tossed the ball for 16 yards to Austin
Koonce who made a diving catch for the first down.
The Rattlers, seemingly stunned by the
razzle-dazzle, could only watch as Smith took a pitch from Stokes on
the next play and swept to his left into the end zone. Calzada kicked
the PAT and it was a six point game, 13-20 with over 11 minutes to
play.
The Bearcat defense held Tolar on the
next series and took over the ball on their own 23 yard line. Welch
broke two tackles to pick up four yards. Smith took the ball, started
inside, but darted left to the outside for 11 yards. A personal foul
was tacked on to the play and DeLeon was in good shape with a first
down on Tolars end of the field.
The Rattler defense stiffened and DeLeon
faced a fourth and two. Stokes kept on a sneak for two, but the
measurement came up less than an inch short. Some questioned the mark.
Others question the measurement, on which the stick was leaning away
from the ball. Regardless, the ball went over.
Tolar took the ball on their own 38 yard
line. After scratching out a first down, with the help of a Bearcat
offside penalty, the Rattlers then faced a third down and four on
DeLeon’s 44 yard line. Deleon’s defense crowded the line of scrimmage
to catch the Rattlers short, but Rattler Randall Stewart broke the
first line of defense and outraced the defense to the goal line. Tolar
went for two to make the final score 28-14.
The penalties and personnel changes hurt
the Bearcats most.
DeLeon had only three effective penalties
in the first half, all three defensive off sides. Two of these were
for encroachment, lining up in the neutral zone.
The second half was hurt by illegal
procedures and delay of game penalties. As the team got anxious about
a chance to win created mistakes.
However, the difficulties with personnel
changes, due to player availability, created more problems. The
personnel packages for certain situations changed with the
availability of Smith and Calzado, and the last minute loss of Travis.
The insertion of JV players from the previous game helped, but
combined with the other personnel issues, some confusion occurred in
substitutions and play calling. This explains the use of three
timeouts in the third quarter, leaving a scrambling Bearcat team in
the fourth quarter without a way to control the clock.
The coaches would never use excuses, but
sideline observers noticed moments of confusion from the more
inexperienced players. These areas are fixable.
The positives of the game remain. The
team looked sharp offensively, and effectively handled a larger team
defensively. A few more adjustments, and in our district, things
should get very interesting. |
