Broncos Stampede The Buffaloes
By Ray Glasscock
With the windmills turning to the backdrop of the setting sun, the Sonora Broncos took the field at Forsan for the inaugural varsity game on the Buff’s new artificial turf field. After the first two series, there was no doubt who was going to win the ball game. The play of the Broncos, both offensively and defensively, was a thing of beauty. However, the Forsan stadium and radio announcers also provided some comical moments and many interesting and complimentary comments on the Broncos’ play. According to the stadium announcers, Braxton Synder and Chance Campbell handled the quarterbacking duties for the Broncos. Granted, our jersey numbers are difficult to read. Once the game was out of hand, Clayton Parks and Imoni Cross got some time playing quarterback.
The Broncos won the toss after the officials read the entire rulebook to the respective captains. The officials could have easily flagged themselves for delay of game.
On the third play of the game, Cross dropped back, rolled right away from the defenders and tossed a short receiver screen pass to Zach Badeaux. Badeaux hurdled a tackler and sped untouched to complete the 50 yard pass and catch for the game’s first touchdown. Kade Wimberley (aka Braxton Snyder) kicked the PAT and the scoreboard read 7 to 0 in the Broncos’ favor with 11:05 left in the first quarter.
With three of the four members of Forsan’s state qualifying 4x100 relay team on the field, Coach Sine and his staff knew that they had good speed. The game plan to stop their speed was quite successful. Cross kicked off high and short forcing them to fair catch the kickoffs. The defense blitzed and blitzed. Damon Evans got the game started with a tackle for a loss on Foster Burchett, the Forsan quarterback. The Bronco line played great all night either making the tackle or allowing the linebackers to attack the runners untouched. The first Forsan series was an R cubed P. (Run, run, run, punt).
After an excellent punt, the Broncos started on their own 17 yard line. Parks threw to Cadesman Pope for a first down and then twice to Word Hudson. The second pass to Hudson covered 46 yards to the Buff’s ten yard line. Badeaux got the touchdown on a run up the middle. My video showed that Bryce Smith pancaked the nose guard, Blaise Coffman (5’7” – 238 pounds), Lino Villanueva took Tyler Roach, the inside linebacker into the endzone, Ricky Samaniego knocked Polo Morin, the outside linebacker to the turf and Michael Sanchez and Kyle Patlin doubled teamed linebacker Patrick Robles which provided the hole for Badeaux. Ty Johnson, the fastest player on the field, blocked the PAT, and the score stood at 13 to 0 with 8:32 left in the first quarter.
Cross kicked off deep. Pope and Eric Santana tacked Johnson at the Forsan 22 yard line. At this point, the KXCS announcer commented, “If the Buffs are able to stretch this out (drive), it would be a huge moral victory.” On third down, Burchett scrambled for a Buffaloes first down. Campbell stopped the next run, Sam Powers knocked down a pass on second down, and Jesse Vasquez forced a desperation pass to Roman who was tackled from behind short of the first down by Pope.
Cross got the next Bronco drive going with a scramble of 20 yards. Edward Garza raced for a 29 yard gain to the their 28 yard line. Parks executed the flanker screen to Pope who rambled toward the end zone, but Burchett was able to force him out of bounds at the half yard line. Garza got the touchdown on the next play. Coach Sine called the exact same play for the two point conversion and Garza delivered. The score was 21 to 0 with 3:59 left in the first quarter. The radio announcers commented: “Forsan didn’t know what to look for or who to cover. We don’t know where the next punch is coming from.”
During the next defensive series, Powers blocked his second pass of the game. After one first down, Forsan punted to the Broncos.
On third down, Parks passed to Garza who moved the sticks from the 16 to 30. Parks followed up with a 30 yard completion to Cross who made a leaping catch between Johnson and Roman. Parks to Pope gained 20 yards. This Bronco drive stalled when Johnson got a hand on a Parks’ pass to Hudson at the goal line, and Parks was sacked on fourth down.
The next three and out featured Synder blocking a Burchett pass. Cross fair caught the Buffalo punt at the Broncos 40 yard line. Garza rushed for a first down and Forsan. Cross ran the quarterback dive and was tackled at the one yard line. Cross got the touchdown on the next carry up the middle. Wimberley kicked the PAT making the score 28 to 0 with 7:29 left in the second quarter.
The Forsan’s offensive coordinator’s nightmare continued. With the Bronco line completely dominating, he tried a screen pass on third down. Watching the video, it was clear that the Bronco defense had some tell on when they were going to run the screen. Hudson was ready and delivered his customary, hard hit of the game.
Cross was able to field the Buff’s next punt and returned it about ten yards to the Forsan 38 yard line. Parks rolled to his left and threw to Cross who raced untouched for the fifth Bronco touchdown. Wimberley kicked it true and the score was 35 to 0 with 5:33 left in the first half. The radio announcers had this to say: “Parks looks like Peyton Manning in the shotgun changing the play.”
Right before halftime, the Broncos scored again. Parks hit Garza for a 20 yard gain and then followed up with a 40 yard touchdown pass to Cross. Wimberley finished the first half scoring with a successful PAT making the score 42 to 0 at the half. The radio announcers commented, "As I watch them (Broncos) play and think back to the preseason pick of San Saba (picked number one), if they are better than the Broncos, that's going to be an unbelievable matchup.”
In the second half, Forsan got a touchdown against the first string defense on a blown coverage pass play. Burchett completed a long touchdown pass to his brother Trevor Burchett. Their PAT was good and the score was 42 to 7 with 8:55 left in the third.
Parks threw his third touchdown pass to Hudson. Wimberley finished the Bronco scoring making the score 49 to 7 with 3:17 left in the third quarter. Again, another compliment from the radio announcers: “You see right there, their execution through the air is just unbelievable.”
In the fourth quarter, Forsan scored two touchdowns and one safety which made the final score 49 to 23.
Parks completed 15 of 21 passes for 284 yards and three touchdowns. Cross threw a 50 yard touchdown pass, caught two touchdown passes, and ran for a touchdown and a two point conversion. Garza led all rushers with 105 yards on eight carries. The Broncos had 182 yards rushing and 334 yards passing for a total of 516 total yards of offense. The passing yardage came on 16 completions for a 20.88 average.
Nine Broncos had tackles for a loss, Powers and Evans had sacks, and ten Broncos had hurries. Evans led all tacklers with 16 and Jorge Villanueva was second with 14.
This week the Broncos are at home and play the 0 – 2 Ballinger Bearcats.