BRADY— The Brady Bulldogs finished one of the toughest three games stretches for any high school team in West Texas, falling to the physical Coleman Bluecats 30-14.
The Bulldogs haven’t had an easy go of things to start off the season with their first game being against the Comanche Indians, their second game against the Mason Punchers, and their third against the Coleman Blucats. This is probably one of the most difficult three-game stretches not only in West Texas for a small 3A school, but maybe the state.
In their final game of the gauntlet, the Bulldogs matched the intensity of the Bluecats, who pride themselves on being physical. On the first Coleman drive, they fumbled the ball to the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs punted the ball to Coleman who eventually ended up in the endzone to make the score 8-0 Coleman. Then, Brady had a beautiful passing touchdown from Sean Jacoby to Ezekiel Jones. Only thing is, the play was called back on a holding penalty. Coleman recovered a fumble, and the first quarter would end with the Blucats driving.
The Brady defense stopped the Coleman drive only for the Bluecats’ Dyson Sowers to intercept a Jacoby pass. The short field ended up with Coleman back in the endzone. Brady’s Demarcus Reed made the tackle behind the goal line on the two-point conversion to keep the score 14-0 Coleman.
Things started to shift here as Xavier Mendez would scoop up a Bluecat fumble. The Bulldogs made quick work and Daryl Adair would punch in the Brady score. This left the Bulldogs trailing 14-6.
On the next Coleman drive, Ethan Medrano came up big for the Bulldogs with a huge interception where Coleman’s Torres floated one to his receiver. This would lead to the end of the first half with Brady down by eight.
The beginning of the second half would be a dogfight with a Coleman fumble and a Brady fumble. The Bulldogs decided that enough was enough and with about four minutes left, some trickery led to an Ashton Ramsey touchdown pass from Jones who took a handoff from Jacoby. A successful two-point conversion made the score 14-14-.
Coleman’s Bouldin put up a quick score with 22 seconds remaining in the third quarter, making the score 22-14.
Big plays highlighted the fourth quarter and started with Jones snagging a nice pass. Brady could not put one in the endzone, and Coleman did, making the score 30-14 with 4:26 left in the game. An unsportsmanlike conduct and a pass interference held Brady move the ball but on the last play Jacoby’s pass would be batted back and intercepted by the Bluecats.
For a team facing giants like Comanche and Mason in consecutive weeks, the Brady Bulldogs stepped up to the plate against Coleman and did not make it easy on the Bluecats. Brady had Coleman reeling for a second in this one.
Jacoby looked much improved in this game, coming off a multi-interception game against Mason. The center/quarterback exchange was dicey after the starting center went down with an injury. This led to plenty of fumbles on Brady’s end.
A great pass for a touchdown was called back and another pass was nearly a touchdown but ended up putting the Bulldogs within striking distance on one of their touchdowns.
Another encouraging takeaway from this game is Brady made it a game without ALL-COVER1 linebacker Johnny Menefield. Add that, Nasir Menefield’s injury and the starting center’s injury, the Bulldogs showed plenty of grit. This Brady team is coming together under first year coach Jaron Roberts and will be a force come district play.
Coach Roberts had this to say after the game.
Up next is the Dublin Lions who come to down on September 15, 2023.
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