Bronco Defense Dominates Panthers
By Ray Glasscock
The game between the Sonora Broncos and the Blanco Panthers couldn’t have been more exciting for the players, fans, and coaches. We all knew that it would be a great game between two very good and well-prepared football teams. I am sure that the Sonora coaches were determined to stop the big running plays including the wrap around draw and the flanker trap. Coach Rogers had a defensive plan that was designed to stop our passing attack. It appears to me that Blanco is good at stopping the run since it’s second nature to them. I had expected them to put maximum pressure on Clayton Parks, but they chose instead to rush four linemen and drop seven into coverage. Last year’s game will be remembered for many, many years for the impossible last drive as Ethan Morriss scored with no time left. While this game was exciting, it would not be long remembered if the morph play had not happened. Years from now, people will ask, “Were you at the morph game against Blanco?”
The Bronco defense has dominated every previous game, and the coaches were hoping to find out how the Broncos would hold up against the Blanco Panthers. So how did the defense do? There were 78 tackles in the game with ten being solo tackles. That means that 68 tackles were the “host of Broncos” type of tackles. Dallas Payne led all tacklers with ten tackles all of the assist variety. Ryan San Miguel, Imoni Cross, and Word Hudson made two solo tackles each while Jorge Villanueva, Zach Badeaux, Kyle Patlan, and Cadesman Pope had one solo tackle each.
The Broncos held the Panthers to ten first downs, 60 yards of rushing, and 140 yards of passing. The Panthers scored one touchdown. Tyler Brown was their leading rusher with 32 yards on six carries.
Offensively, the Broncos logged more first downs and more yardage than in any previous game, but scored fewer points. The Broncos had only six first downs in the first half, but exploded for 17 in the second half. While Blanco held the Broncos to 95 yards rushing, Parks and his receiving corps amassed 342 yards. Parks completed 27 of 38 passes while throwing his first interception of the year. Parks spread his passes among five receivers: Cross caught four for 66 yards, Badeaux had five for 32, Garza had two for seven, Hudson had 7 for seventy, and Pope led all receivers with 9 receptions for 167 yards and one touchdown. Cross was the leading rusher with 69 yards on 12 carries. He would have had more yardage except that for the third game in a row, he had a touchdown called back due to Bronco penalties.
On Blanco’s opening drive, they were stopped when Cross intercepted Tanner Rogers and returned it 39 yards. The first Bronco offensive series had Hudson catching a fourth down pass to move the chains, Garza getting it to the five yard line on a shovel pass, and it ended when Parks threw his first interception of the season.
Taking over at their own five yard line, the Panthers were able to move it to their 45 before having to punt. Rogers boomed a punt that went out of bounds at the Broncos five yard line. After being stopped, Parks had to punt. Sam Isenberg returned it to the Bronco 35 yard line. Rogers had his longest run of the night when he gained 9 yards on the keeper. Brown ripped off Blanco’s longest run of the night when he gained 13 yards setting up a first and goal. The drive ended when Rogers was stripped of the pigskin as he was struggling for yardage. Payne came up with drive ending recovery at the Bronco eleven yard line.
Badeaux got the Broncos a first down on a quick pass from Parks as he almost broke it down the sideline. Hudson had one tackle busting run after catch as he gained 15 yards. Badeaux then started in motion and took out a line backer allowing Garza to get good yardage and a first down. Pope caught his first two passes of the night. Cross caught a throw back screen and used his broken field instincts to give the Broncos a first down at the Panthers’ 18 yard line. The drive stalled and Kade Wimberley kicked a 34 yard field goal to give the Broncos a 3 to 0 lead with 3:47 left in the first half.
After another defensive stop by the Broncos, Rogers once again backed us up with another great punt that went out of bounds on the Broncos 13 yard line. As I have reviewed my videos of the games, I have noticed that not all snaps to Parks have been perfect. It just seems that he has an uncanny ability to field the snap and go right on with the play. Then, I was reminded that Parks is an All West Texas catcher. But even so, sometimes there are wild pitches/passed balls. The snap was low and went between Parks’ legs. He retrieved the ball and tried to throw the ball out of bounds. Since the ball didn’t get beyond the line of scrimmage and he was throwing from within his endzone, it was charged as a safety. The score at the end of the half was 3 to 2 in favor of Sonora.
Erik Santana got the second half off to a good start when he returned the Panthers’ kickoff to the 32 yard line. Coach Sine changed his approach. This drive featured Parks throwing shorter passes to Hudson and Pope, and Cross running from the Wildcat formation. After three Cross’ runs resulted in two first downs, Parks once again threw deep over the middle. A Blanco defender tipped the ball and Pope caught it on the rebound for a 30+ yard gain giving the Broncos a first down at the Panthers’ eleven yard line. On third down, Cross leaped for a touchdown, but the ball came out. It was ruled that the ground caused the ball to come out and the Broncos had a first and goal inside the one. The Broncos lined up in the heavy formation with Evans and Wimberley set to block for Badeaux. However, Parks ran the quarterback sneak and scored. The Broncos led 9 to 2 with 6:17 left in the third quarter after the PAT kick was wide right.
Blanco managed one first down before they had to punt. Cross took the snap and immediately had to avoid a Panther. He got away and started to his right. When he was trapped by the sideline and several Panthers, he used his patented spin move to break free and start up the Blanco sideline with a shoulder pad flapping. The Panthers swarmed around Cross. Somehow, Cross managed to MORPH into Hudson’s body to continue his run. Cross went into the pile, but Hudson came out with the ball and gained another 15 yards.
Nine plays later, the Broncos attempted a 26 yard field goal, but it was not good.
The Panthers started a drive that was looking good for them. Then they were flagged for a chop block and the fifteen yard penalty forced them out to throw the ball. Hudson separated a Blanco receiver from the ball with a HARD hit and the Panthers had to punt.
After another excellent punt, the Broncos started a 96 yard scoring drive. The drive took seven plays. There were six completed passes and one running play. Cross caught a quick pass and turned it into a 25 yard gain. Pope got the touchdown on a leaping catch over a much shorter defender. After Wimberley made his PAT kick, the score was 16 to 2 in favor of the Broncos with 4:35 left.
Turn about is fair play. Needing to throw, the Panthers completed two long passes. Hudson was able to tip one of the passes, but it fell into the receiver’s hands for a long gain. Then, Cross leaped but couldn’t keep the receiver from catching a touchdown for the Panthers. After the PAT, the score was 16 to 9 with 3:19 left in the game.
The final drive of the game featured three amazing plays. Parks was forced out of the pocket and started to run. Then he saw Pope just a few feet in front of him. He tossed a short pass to Pope who split the defenders for a 30 yard gain to the Panthers’ 43 yard line. Cross fielded a low snap, avoided the first line of defenders, and weaved his way for an apparent touchdown. For the third week in a row, Cross had a touchdown called back for a Bronco penalty.
The chess match between the coaches continued. Coach Sine called for the Broncos to take a knee. No time out from Coach Rogers. Coach Sine called for another knee. Then Rogers called a time out. The Broncos now faced 3rd and 20 with the prospect of the Panthers getting the ball back. Parks calmly took the snap and threw deep for Pope who caught the ball for a first down. The next kneel down ended the game with the final score of 16 to 9. The Broncos are now 5 and 0 going into district.
The Broncos are off this week. On October 7th, the Broncos travel to Junction to start District 13-2A play. Sonora leads this series 49-20-3. Game time is 7:30 PM.