SONORA, TX— The Sonora Broncos are prepared for their playoff rematch against the defending state champion Hawley Bearcats.
The Bronco’s record does not reflect the absolute rollercoaster of a season Sonora has experienced. Way back in August during two-a-days, senior quarterback Jaime Buitron suffered what everyone would think would be a season ending injury when he tore his ACL in practice.
Buitron was one of the most feared players in the Concho Valley in 2022, throwing for 1,640 yards, 16 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. On the ground, Buitron was extremely dangerous, where he rushed for 2,114 yards and 25 touchdowns. On defense, he added 78 tackles, three sacks, six interceptions, three forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery.
Even with a serious injury, Buitron would return to the field in Week 5 against Harper. Now, he’s thrown for 1,100 yards, 11 touchdowns, and one interception and rushed for 298 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.
Backup quarterback, junior Juan Castillo, did a great job stepping in for Buitron and had a little help from the big guys upfront like Elijah Samaniego and Jacob Martinez and in the backfield from senior Edgar DeLuna and junior Dylan Ford.
DeLuna took over the starting running back role and rushed for 2,374 yards, 34 touchdowns, 370 receiving yards and four touchdowns while turning in 130 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, two sacks, eight interceptions, five forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries.
Ford, who has been one of the best players on the field during this year’s playoffs, has 417 total yards and two touchdowns with 37 tackles, one sack, five interceptions, four forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. Against Anson and Farwell, Ford snagged an interception in each game.
Those aren’t the only players on the team as Castillo has moved out of the quarterback spot and turned in 513 total yards on offense and five touchdowns. Junior Kam Aguero has been a consistent threat out wide with 33 catches for 606 yards and nine scores. DeLuna’s backup, Josh Lozano, has rushed for 342 yards and five scores.
On defense, Lozano has 93 tackles, four tackles for loss, one sack, two interceptions, and two caused and recovered fumbles. Samaniego, Martinez, and Jaedon Chavarria have 103 combined tackles, five sacks, and one fumble recovery.
Now, the players are focused on Hawley. After the Farwell game, Samaniego and Martinez echoed the sentiment that the Broncos are coming.
Last season, the Broncos held on for a half against the Bearcats’ super team, but Hawley ended up winning 57-26.
Hawley graduated quite a bit of their state championship team but are still a very good football team. Junior quarterback Keegan Ables has thrown for 2,975 yards, 42 touchdowns, and only two interceptions.
Ables also got an incredible trio of receivers in Diontay Ramon, Chandlin Myers, and his younger brother, freshman Camden Ables, who have 1,225 yards, 699 yards, and 499 yards respectively. Those three also have 33 touchdowns combined.
In the backfield, senior Landon Sykora and Ables lead the way with 711 yards and 208 yards respectively. Sykora has reached the endzone nine times and Ables three times.
Defensively, Sykora leads the team with 86 tackles and sophomore Hunter Hudson isn’t far behind him with 83 tackles. Hudson also has 5.5 sacks this season, followed by junior Cayden Moss with four. Ramos has four of Hawley’s 18 total interceptions and averages 40 yards per interception return. Eli Daniel’s has three, Sykora has two as to Ables and Ethan Stalling.
Sonora head coach Blake Weston isn’t taking things lightly.
“It’s awesome,” Weston said, “I tell those kids ‘Don’t take it for granted’. We want to make it an every year thing and we have the last two years.”
Sonora’s playoff run last season is pretty similar to last season. In 2022, the Broncos drew Olney in the first round and won 28-27. This season, they drew Anson and won another close game 29-27. In the second round in both seasons, they played the Farwell Steers. Now, the Broncos have a revenge game against Hawley in the same place as their meeting last season, San Angelo Stadium.
“They’re (Hawley) a really good football team,” said Weston, “Coach (Mitch) Ables son, is playing quarterback. He’s got another son playing receiver. Of course, you’ve got the two-headed monster in Myers and Ramon. They’re a good football team and we’ve got to come ready to play and be firing on all cylinders. Which, I think after last week our kids are ready and hungry… When we walked off that field last year, we knew what we wanted, and we got a shot at it.”
One difference that may have worked in Hawley’s favor last year is that they were the visitors in this game which this season, Sonora is.
“We’ve got to get out and play Bronco football for sure,” Weston said.
This Bronco team follows Buitron’s confidence. Down six against Anson, after an Anson punt and with five minutes left in the game, needing to drive about 90 yards for a score, Buitron looked out on the field and said, “We’re going to march down the field and score.”.
The Broncos scored on a screen pass to DeLuna who was on the receiving end on the two-point conversion shovel pass that moved Sonora out in front by two.
“Watch out for us,” Ford said after the Anson game. He snatched an interception and scored a rushing touchdown to keep the Broncos in it.
After the Farwell game, DeLuna agreed with Ford, “I think Dylan said it best, we’re coming.”.
Perhaps the best soundbites came from the big guys, Samaniego and Martinez. When asked about the rematch, Samaniego said, “It’s not business. It’s personal,” and Martinez had a one-word answer.
“Revenge”
Sonora (11-1) gets their shot against the defending 2A-D1 state champion Hawley Bearcats (10-2) on Friday, November 24, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. at San Angelo Stadium in San Angelo.
Subscribe to the LIVE! Daily
Required
Post a comment to this article here: