Man, I couldn’t have been more excited for this awesome double-header!!! I even celebrated by eating fast food (Whataburger chicken fajita tacos and Wendy’s crispy chicken sandwich’s). I should tell you that I haven’t had fast food since March. Hey, the good news is I didn’t get sick from what I ate (probably because I got something kinda plain and not fried in grease)!! After football is over, I really got to get rid of some pounds and I think it starts with eating healthier, eating less, exercising, and cutting out soda.
Enough about me…I got two games to write about (and I am planning on writing a preview BLOG for Brennan and Steele since they play each other Saturday night at The Alamodome).
Reagan and Smithson Valley
I wrote a preview BLOG for this game last Wednesday and I was expecting a very close game with Reagan Rattlers coming out on top…but I also wouldn’t be shocked if the Smithson Valley Rangers won.
Dude, this game was so close that I wrote on my stat-board, anything you can do, I can do better than you cause that just felt like the mantra for the entire game!! And, also, it seemed that every single third down conversion was extremely important.
After the first quarter, both teams were scoreless!!! In the second quarter, Smithson Valley had a HUGE 3rd and 10 from the 2 yard line and dude, they converted it on a 98 yard touchdown reception to Derek Housler!!! Yeah, a 98 yard touchdown!!! Reagan quarterback, Kellon Mond answered back with a 5 yard touchdown run. At halftime, both teams were tied at 7!! WOW!!!
The Rangers had 111 total yards in the fist half (but 98 came on the touchdown) and the Rattlers had 218 total yards (Kellon Mond had 185 of those).
One minute into the third quarter, the Rangers scored on a 40 yard touchdown reception and had a lead of 14 to 7. Man, this is a close game!! But, Reagan answered again with a 54 yard touchdown reception and we tied again at 14!!!
So, going into the fourth quarter, we were tied at 14. Reagan scored on a 1 yard touchdown run…they lead 21 to 14. With less than a minute remaining, the Rangers were driving down the field (they converted both third downs even some fourth downs) and were in position to score and possibly send the game into overtime, but the final fourth down conversion pass was tipped and batted down in the end zone. WOW!!
Final score was Reagan Rattlers 21 and Smithson Valley Rangers 14.
The Rangers ran 59 plays for 269 yards. The sophomore quaterback, Josh Adkins, was 12 of 30 passing for 273 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interceptions. Derek Housler had 5 receptions for 174 yards and 1 touchdown (again, that touchdown was for 98 yards) and Kyle Kershner had 2 receptions for 44 yards and 1 touchdown. The Ranger running game had negative yards (mainly because of bad snaps and sacks). Cord Given, the leading rusher on the team, didn’t play. The Rangers blocked punts and a field goal.
The Reagan Rattlers ran 71 plays for 385 yards. Kellon Mond, yet another sophomore quarterback, had 27 carries for 223 yards and 1 touchdown AND he was 14 of 22 passing for 122 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. That would be a total of 345 yards and 2 touchdowns!!! Pretty impressive!!! The leading receiver was Jordan Walker-Chambers who had 7 receptions for 87 yards and 1 touchdown. Junior running back and the coach’s son, Sklyer Wetzel had 9 carries for 13 yards and 1 touchdown and sophomore Marquis Duncan had 8 carries for 29 yards.
In my last BLOG about the Southwest Dragons and O’Connor Panthers, I mentioned I could easily see O’Connor as one of the teams in the 6A Division I regional game in 3 weeks. Well, their opponent could end up being the Reagan Rattlers (I am actually expecting that and I know Judson will want to ruin my expectations and I am OK if that happens). If it is O’Connor and Reagan, it will be a rematch…O’Connor beat Reagan in Week 1.
The Reagan Rattlers will play the winner of the Stevens and East Central game.
Stevens and East Central
My preview for this game was all about the Stevens quarterback, Bobby Chacon. Chacon has been one of the top quarterbacks all year and I expected him to put up incredible numbers and get his team a win.
Before I dive into stats for this game, I have to complain about the East Central jersey’s…dude, they were white with yellow numbers (basically, I had absolutely no clue who had the ball for East Central…I had to rely heavily on the spotter Manny Rodriguez and the broadcasters Bobby Stautzenberger and Mark Kusenberger). I worked an East Central game a few years ago and they had the same jersey’s…well, they were playing two quarterbacks and only afterwards did I learn that one of them was hurt and didn’t take any snaps.
The final score was the Stevens Falcons 51 and East Central Hornets 22.
Both teams combined for 11 turnovers (dude, in the 3 games I worked this weekend, 6 teams combined for 23 turnovers…yeah, it was cold and rainy). Stevens and East Central ran 138 total plays for 884 total yards.
The quarterback for the Hornets and also a junior, Justin Upshaw-Mendoza, was 19 of 39 passing for 217 yards with 5 interceptions and 2 touchdowns. One of my favorite Hornet players, Wanya Ward, had 12 receptions for 136 yards and 1 touchdown. Ward finished his final year with 938 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. Man, I am going to miss Ward but hopefully, he will get an opportunity to play at the next level. Another player I was looking forward to see last night was Javion Polk, a running back..but he wasn’t even listed on the two-deep nor did he play. The Hornets do a have a bright spot and that is sophomore running back, Jauwan Hall. Hall had 20 carries for 77 yards and for the season, he had 1,020 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.
The Stevens Falcons ran 66 plays for 580 yards. Quarterback Bobby Chacon was 13 of 22 passing for 295 yards with 4 touchdowns and 4 interceptions AND he also had 21 carries for 146 yards and 1 touchdown. A total of 441 yards and 5 touchdowns for Bobby and those numbers may very well make him my Week 12 player of the week!!! Xavier Ortiz had 10 receptions for 202 yards and 3 touchdowns and Tyrek Allen had 2 receptions for 61 yards and 1 touchdown. Ja’Von Dickson had 15 carries for 114 yards and 1 touchdown. On the defensive side, Teddy Britton and Ivan Dranowksy (no relation to my wife, Nina Darnowsky) had huge hits and caused some of the Hornets turnovers.
The Stevens Falcons will play the Reagan Rattlers next Saturday at 4pm at The Alamodome. I am going to give the edge to Reagan, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Stevens won the game.