BRADY— The Brady Bulldogs rebounded in a big way in their third district matchup against the Ballinger Bearcats, 34-27.
Last week, the Bulldogs traveled to Longhorn Stadium to take on the Early Longhorns. Early dismantled the Bulldogs 69-8. A regrouping was in order, which the Bulldogs did against Ballinger. The Bearcats came out early and hit Brady in the mouth, but the Bulldogs bounced back, especially after Daryl Adair got back into the game, to put the Bulldogs at two wins in district play.
In the opening quarter, Bearcat quarterback found Manny Gonzalez after shedding a would-be tackler on a 63-yard pass for a touchdown. After a successful extra point attempt, Ballinger went up 7-0 with about 8:30 left in the first quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, kicker and running back Zach Canada dribble kicked the ball, which the Bulldogs weren’t prepared for, and the Bearcats recovered.
The celebration would be short lived as Brady’s Mason Airheart picked off Weathers on the drive. The Bearcat’s Nick Martinez got to Brady sophomore signal caller Sean Jacoby on the drive and on fourth down, the Bulldogs failed to convert, turning the ball over on downs.
Bulldog’s defensive back Ethan Medrano had a very nice pass defended on the Bearcat’s drive and at one point, it looked like Brady super sophomore defensive tackle had stripped the ball from Canada, but the refs concluded the back had been down before he lost the ball.
Regardless on whether Reed stripped the ball or not, he did, the Brady Bulldogs still had to play defense. The Bearcats came back with an 11-yard Aiden Pena touchdown with about three minutes left to go up 13-0 after the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, the Bearcats were driving again, and Medrano nearly came up with another interception for the Bulldogs. Brady forced the Bearcats into a fourth down situation, which they couldn’t convert, and the Bulldogs took over.
Zeke Jones and Daryl Adair have gotten the nicknames Dash and Bash, for their style of rushing the football. Jones is Dash, but after the Bearcat’s failed conversion, had a Bash-like run where he was shoving defenders out of the way for a first down. This would be a short-lived drive as a fumble would give the ball back to Ballinger with 9:05 left in the first half.
The Ballinger drive would last shorter than a minute as Jones, playing safety, made a play on a deep pass from Weathers to Kaiden Medrano and snagged himself an interception. With under seven minutes to play in the first half, Jacoby found Airheart over the middle of the field to convert on 3rd and 7. Then, with 3:33 left before the break, Jacoby scrambled in for a six-yard score to get the Bulldogs on the scoreboard, 13-6, which would be the score at halftime.
Ballinger received the kick to open the second half and Brady’s Gauge Evans had a good tackle on Canada and the Bulldogs didn’t budge on this drive, which forced the Bearcats to punt. The Bulldogs got after it on the snap and blocked the punt, which Medrano scooped up and returned it inside the 15-yard line.
Enter Bash.
Adair got into the game and made his presence known with a 7-yard touchdown that ended up tying the game at 13-13. The Bearcats looked out of sync coming out after the half and when Brady had the ball again, Jones rushed the ball down inside the five-yard line. Adair finished off the drive with a short touchdown run with just under a minute left in the third quarter. Brady had taken the lead, 20-13 with 55 seconds left before the fourth quarter.
Ballinger wouldn’t lay down and started off the final frame of the game moving the ball quickly. Weathers handed the ball off to Kyle Bullard, who converted for a first down. Then, Weathers found Gonzalez, who caught the ball at the one-yard line. Canada finished off the drive with an angry run from the one, making the score 20-20 with 10:57 left in the game.
On the ensuing Brady drive, Adair had a nice run and Jones finished the drive with a 27-yard scamper for a score. Now, the Bulldogs were up 27-20 and Ballinger was focused again.
Canada ripped off a huge run and was tackled by a pack of Bulldogs but not after flipping the field, running from the 32-yard line to the other 32-yard line. From the 10-yard line, Weathers found Jaylen Hernandez for a touchdown pass. This again tied the game, 27-27, with about 8:23 left.
The Bearcats got the ball back and Weathers was nearly intercepted by Ashton Ramsey. With about 4 minutes left in the game, big freshman defensive tackle broke through the Ballinger offense line and sacked Weathers on 3rd down, which forced a punt.
Brady had to drive the field to win this game in regulation. Adair had a nice run as time was running down on the clock. With :22 seconds left in the game, Adair powered his way through for a short touchdown run. This put the Bulldogs ahead 34-27.
The Bearcats needed something, and it wasn’t letting Brady’s Reed get to Weathers with :08 seconds left. Weathers did complete his last pass, but Brady quickly corralled the ball, ending the game with a win.
Brady’s head coach Jaron Roberts had this to say after the district victory.
Ballinger made this a game that their 0-8 record may have influenced, but this team has been getting some of the Concho Valley and Big Country’s best teams. The Bearcats started this season against the undefeated Sonora Broncos, who travelled to Anthony and after an all-day bus ride, still put up 60 points on the Wildcats.
After Sonora, the Bearcats played Coleman, who is 6-2, Stamford (7-0), Clyde (7-0), Mason (7-0), then two tough district opponents in Early and Wall. This game the Bulldogs turned their losing Sean around.
Ballinger gave the Bulldogs everything they had.
The Bearcats play the TLCA San Angelo Eagles next week. The Bulldogs play Grape Creek at Bulldog Stadium in Brady and, with a win, should end up with no worse than the 3rd seed playoff spot in that district.
Subscribe to the LIVE! Daily
Required
Post a comment to this article here: