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Sonora Puts a Scare in Comfort After being shutout by their last two opponents, the 2007 Sonora Broncos came to Bronco Stadium this past Friday determined to finish their season with a statement game. The Broncos dominated the playoff bound Comfort Bobcats in nearly every statistical category except for one: the final score. The Broncos won the toss and deferred to the second half. The Bronco defense forced the Bobcats to go three and out. It didn't take long for the Broncos to score as Ethan Morriss threw a short middle screen to tight end Michael Jenkins who cut to the sidelines and outran all Bobcats for a 55 yard catch and run for the first Bronco touchdown. Aaron Gaytan sprang Jenkins with a key block at the start of the run. Gaytan kicked the PAT and the Broncos surprised everyone with a 7 to 0 lead with 7:09 left in the first quarter. Once again the Bronco defense forced another three and out. Morgan Martinez ran to his right and broke through the hole opened by the Bronco offensive line and raced down the right sideline for about a thirty yard run giving the Broncos great field position inside the Bobcat's 15 yard line. After a Bronco penalty pushed the Broncos back ten yards, Will Anderson started running to his right. He disappeared behind a pile of Bobcats. Then he reappeared to the outside of the pile and raced untouched the rest of the way for a 37 yard touchdown. After the PAT kick missed, the Broncos led by a score of 13 to 0 with 3:54 left in the first quarter. On the next series, the Bobcat offense finally was able to score. Senior Travis Chrisman started to scramble away from the Bronco rush. This caused the Bronco defensive backs to lose track of Bobcat end Austin Bohmert. Chrisman lofted a 43 yard pass to the wide open Bohmert for the first of only two offensive Bobcat touchdowns. After a good Bobcat kick, the score was 13 to 7 in favor of the Broncos with 2:39 left in the first quarter. The Broncos answered quickly as Martinez broke free for another long run down the right side. After covering more than 40 yards, Martinez was tackled at the Bronco four yard line giving the Broncos a first and goal. Victor Vaquera got the touchdown on a tough run up the middle. For the PAT, Morriss rolled to right and looked for a receiver. He threw to 6'5" Jenkins for the two point conversion and the Broncos had scored 21 points in the first quarter. The Broncos had the lead at 21 to 7 with 16 seconds left in the quarter. On the second Bobcat play of the second quarter, the Broncos got the ball back as Riley Sanchez stripped the ball from a Bobcat receiver and the Broncos recovered. Morriss, Jordan McGuffin, Ricardo Rodriguez, and Vaquera quickly moved the ball to a first and goal from the nine yard line. Then four consecutive motion penalties against the Broncos forced a first and goal from the 29 yard line. Anderson got about fifteen yards of the yardage back on a nice run around the right end. Jenkins caught another pass from Morriss setting up a third and goal. The drive ended when Morriss had a pass picked off in the endzone. Once again, the Broncos quickly stopped the Bobcats and forced them to punt. Anderson broke free again and gained about 30 yards to the Bobcat 13 yard line. Then disaster struck. Vaquera took the pitch from Morriss and rolled to his right. He tried a throw back screen that was intercepted by the shortest varsity football player that I have ever seen. James Meredith scored on a 75 yard interception return. Comfort's kick was good and the score was 21 to 14 with 2:29 left in the first half. The Broncos received the second half kickoff and started up where they left off. Dustin Neff fair caught the Bobcat kickoff at the Bronco 40 yard line. From there, runs by Morriss, Anderson, Vaquera, Nick Pena, and McGuffin moved the ball to the Bobcat 25 yard line. Morriss rushed for 19 yards to the Bobcat six yard line. The drive ended with a perfect 34 yard field goal by Gaytan. Once again the Broncos had a two possession lead at 24 to 14 with 6:34 left in the third quarter. For the only time in the game, the Bobcat offense came up with a sustained drive. Starting at their own 15 yard line, the Bobcats responded with 13 play drive that ended with Chrisman scoring on a five run yard run. Their kick was good and the score stood at 24 to 21 with 1:53 left in the third quarter. After another kickoff fair catch by Neff, the Broncos drove to a first and goal at the nine yard line. Then disaster struck and Meredith scooped up a Bronco fumble and raced 88 yards for the winning score. The final score was 28 to 24 in favor of the Bobcats. The Broncos had 22 first downs to Comfort's 10. The Broncos rushed for 396 yards on 67 carries and threw for 67 yards. Sonora had 463 yards of total offense to Comfort's 144 yards. Martinez led the Broncos with 99 yards on 11 carries. Anderson and Morriss each gained over 90 yards rushing. Jenkins caught three passes for 67 yards. The Bronco and Colt football season is over with another fine year of Sonora Bronco football. The varsity finished 5 and 5, the JV finished 7 and 3, the 8th grade Colts finished 5 and 4, and the 7th grade Colts finished with 6-2-1. |
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