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Tuesday
March 16, 2010 Since 1922 |
Central tops GCM in defensive battle
By Dave Rogers
The Baytown Sun Published November 14, 2009 BEAUMONT – Goose Creek Memorial’s first playoff football game was hardly the offensive shootout some may have expected.
In fact, what looked like the worst play of the game by either team – a bad punt snap by Beaumont Central – turned out to be the game-breaker as the Jaguars converted it into the game’s only score and won the Class 4A Division I bidistrict game 7-0 before a Friday night crowd of 7,000 at Babe Zaharias Stadium.
Central, 8-3, advances to play the winner of today’s game between Huntsville and Buda Hayes.
In what is expected to be the last game for the 33-year-old north Beaumont stadium – set to be replaced next year by a huge district sports complex south of town – neither team did much to tear up the turf.
A Patriot defense led by defensive lineman Kendall Wilkerson and linebacker Rashaan Sanders held Central to 11 first downs and 193 total yards. But linebacker Jacoby Hale led a Central defense that limited Memorial to seven first downs and 127 total yards.
A 15-yard scoring run by Central’s Nigel Daw and the extra-point kick by Servando Vizcaino with 8:15 left in the first half provided the games’ only points.
It came five plays after Central punter Byron Samuels chased a bad snap all the way back to the Jaguar 15 before breaking loose of some would-be tacklers and running it out to midfield on a fourth-and-2 play.
The Jags used a 17-yard pass from Donte Wilkerson to Keenan Holman and a 22-yard run by Wilkerson to set up Daw’s score.
“We put ourselves in position when we had the punter back there, but he got away,” Patriot coach Bret Boyd said after GCM’s season ended with a 7-4 record.
“That’s the play that will stick out in my mind from this game.”
While the Pat defense limited Central’s rushing game to 126 yards and six first downs – holding leading rusher Keith O’Neal to 58 yards on 19 carries and Daws to 30 yards on five totes – Memorial was limited because its quarterback, Cody Larson, was not at full speed.
Larson twisted his knee in the Kingwood Park game two weeks ago, Boyd explained, and he was unable to move around to open up the passing game or to take pressure off running back DeMartie Allen.
“With Cody being a little bit gimp, we were trying to make something happen with other people, but we didn’t have much luck,” the coach said.
“I guess we finally ran out of bullets.”
The Pats went to a Wildcat formation with Allen taking the direct snap for a late first-quarter possession that yielded nothing.
They tried it again to start the second half, with the same result.
Backup quarterback Price Jacobs, who engaged Samuels in a punting contest for most of the night – nine boots by the Central punter, eight by Jacobs – was at quarterback for Memorial’s second, third and fourth possession of the second half.
Jacobs and the Pats took over at Central 45 late in the third quarter after a 22-yard punt by Samuels and moved the ball to the Jaguar 9-yard line, which was both the Pats’ first possession in Central territory and their deepest penetration all night.
A 22-yard run by Jacobs was the drive’s big play.
But on third-and-7 from the 9-yard line, Jacobs and Allen missed connections on a pitchout and Central’s Samuels recovered just before the ball bounced out of bounds.
It was the game’s only turnover.
With 3:43 remaining and Larson back at QB, Memorial moved from its 40 to the Jaguar 37 on Larson passes of 11 yards to Jeremy Bushnell and six yards to Keithen Collins.
But after Allen was stuffed or a two-yard loss on first down, Larson’s next three passes all fell incomplete.
GCM had one more possession with under a minute remaining, but Larson was incomplete on four straight passes there.
Larson completed nine of 23 passes for 43 yards with Bushnell catching two for 22 yards and Collins snagging three for 20 yards.
Allen finished with 88 yards rushing on 21 attempts.
Central QB Wilkerson was 7 for 20 passing for 67 yards with Brennan Jackson catching four for 29 yards and Holman getting two catches for 29 more yards.
“Our defense just surrounded the ball,” Boyd said. “The big thing I couldn’t believe was they didn’t have any fumbles. They probably had four or five in every game this year, but tonight, they held onto the ball.”
The Baytown Sun Published November 14, 2009 BEAUMONT – Goose Creek Memorial’s first playoff football game was hardly the offensive shootout some may have expected.
In fact, what looked like the worst play of the game by either team – a bad punt snap by Beaumont Central – turned out to be the game-breaker as the Jaguars converted it into the game’s only score and won the Class 4A Division I bidistrict game 7-0 before a Friday night crowd of 7,000 at Babe Zaharias Stadium.
Central, 8-3, advances to play the winner of today’s game between Huntsville and Buda Hayes.
In what is expected to be the last game for the 33-year-old north Beaumont stadium – set to be replaced next year by a huge district sports complex south of town – neither team did much to tear up the turf.
A Patriot defense led by defensive lineman Kendall Wilkerson and linebacker Rashaan Sanders held Central to 11 first downs and 193 total yards. But linebacker Jacoby Hale led a Central defense that limited Memorial to seven first downs and 127 total yards.
A 15-yard scoring run by Central’s Nigel Daw and the extra-point kick by Servando Vizcaino with 8:15 left in the first half provided the games’ only points.
It came five plays after Central punter Byron Samuels chased a bad snap all the way back to the Jaguar 15 before breaking loose of some would-be tacklers and running it out to midfield on a fourth-and-2 play.
The Jags used a 17-yard pass from Donte Wilkerson to Keenan Holman and a 22-yard run by Wilkerson to set up Daw’s score.
“We put ourselves in position when we had the punter back there, but he got away,” Patriot coach Bret Boyd said after GCM’s season ended with a 7-4 record.
“That’s the play that will stick out in my mind from this game.”
While the Pat defense limited Central’s rushing game to 126 yards and six first downs – holding leading rusher Keith O’Neal to 58 yards on 19 carries and Daws to 30 yards on five totes – Memorial was limited because its quarterback, Cody Larson, was not at full speed.
Larson twisted his knee in the Kingwood Park game two weeks ago, Boyd explained, and he was unable to move around to open up the passing game or to take pressure off running back DeMartie Allen.
“With Cody being a little bit gimp, we were trying to make something happen with other people, but we didn’t have much luck,” the coach said.
“I guess we finally ran out of bullets.”
The Pats went to a Wildcat formation with Allen taking the direct snap for a late first-quarter possession that yielded nothing.
They tried it again to start the second half, with the same result.
Backup quarterback Price Jacobs, who engaged Samuels in a punting contest for most of the night – nine boots by the Central punter, eight by Jacobs – was at quarterback for Memorial’s second, third and fourth possession of the second half.
Jacobs and the Pats took over at Central 45 late in the third quarter after a 22-yard punt by Samuels and moved the ball to the Jaguar 9-yard line, which was both the Pats’ first possession in Central territory and their deepest penetration all night.
A 22-yard run by Jacobs was the drive’s big play.
But on third-and-7 from the 9-yard line, Jacobs and Allen missed connections on a pitchout and Central’s Samuels recovered just before the ball bounced out of bounds.
It was the game’s only turnover.
With 3:43 remaining and Larson back at QB, Memorial moved from its 40 to the Jaguar 37 on Larson passes of 11 yards to Jeremy Bushnell and six yards to Keithen Collins.
But after Allen was stuffed or a two-yard loss on first down, Larson’s next three passes all fell incomplete.
GCM had one more possession with under a minute remaining, but Larson was incomplete on four straight passes there.
Larson completed nine of 23 passes for 43 yards with Bushnell catching two for 22 yards and Collins snagging three for 20 yards.
Allen finished with 88 yards rushing on 21 attempts.
Central QB Wilkerson was 7 for 20 passing for 67 yards with Brennan Jackson catching four for 29 yards and Holman getting two catches for 29 more yards.
“Our defense just surrounded the ball,” Boyd said. “The big thing I couldn’t believe was they didn’t have any fumbles. They probably had four or five in every game this year, but tonight, they held onto the ball.”