Scoop27
10-12-2013, 08:47 AM
By Anthony Maenza sports@thefacts.com | 0 comments
SWEENY — The Sweeny Bulldogs pulled out all the stops to get a victory in their District 24-3A opener, but the La Marque Cougars had other ideas Friday night.
The Cougars scored two touchdowns in the second half, one of those with less than 2 minutes left in the game, to overcome the Bulldogs 17-10.
Defense was the order of the night as both teams played tough. The Bulldogs limited the Cougars to 189 yards of total offense.
“I can’t say enough about our defense and the improvement they made,” Sweeny coach Paul Kilby said. “In the second half, I don’t know how many times we made them punt to give us chance after chance when it was 10-10. One thing or another we just couldn’t get rolling on offense. We made some mistakes, but we’ll improve.”
After allowing 159 yards in the first half, the La Marque defense clamped down on the Sweeny offense and allowed 115 yards the rest of the night.
“They were in the exact same defense the whole night,” said Kilby, whose team fell to 4-2. “You got to give credit to La Marque. They are five-time state champion. I told the kids we’re playing a team that has the heart of a champion and I think we do, too. But there is never going to be any quit in La Marque. Their defense outplayed us tonight.”
Down 10-3 at the half, the Cougars went to work in the second half. After stopping the Bulldogs on their opening drive of the third quarter, La Marque mounted an 84-yard drive to tie the game.
Cougar running back Daquan Jones capped the long drive with a 10-yard touchdown run with 5:49 left in the third quarter. Ricky Guillen’s kick knotted the score 10-10.
Jones finished the game with 116 yards rushing.
Both teams traded punts until the 3:28 mark of the fourth quarter. That’s when the Cougars marched 69 yards for the winning touchdown. It started with a 49-yard run by quarterback Ladarrian Ellis-Jones to the Bulldogs’ 20. Then an interference penalty on the next play gave the ball to La Marque at the Sweeny 5.
After a couple of plays and a penalty backed the Cougars up to the Sweeny 7, Ellis-Jones streaked through the middle of the Sweeny defense for the touchdown with 1:36 left in the game.
Ellis-Jones got most of his 54 yards rushing on that drive.
In the first half, the Bulldogs used a bit of trickery to put them in the lead. With the game tied 3-3, Sweeny set up for a 39-yard field goal attempt by Blayne Bailey. On the play, the ball was flipped to Dorland Fields, who then tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Phillip Higgins with 3:39 left in the first half. Bailey’s extra point gave Sweeny a 10-3 lead.
Anthany Simmons kept the scoring drive alive when he ran 22 yards to the La Marque 22 on a fake punt.
Guillen gave La Marque a 3-0 lead with a 24-yard field goal with 9:37 left in the first quarter. This came after Reggie Franklin returned the opening kick for La Marque to the Sweeny 29. The Bulldogs’ defense stiffened and held the Cougars to a field goal.
Bailey opened the second quarter for Sweeny with a 26-yard field goal with 11:12 left in the first half to tie the game 3-3.
SWEENY — The Sweeny Bulldogs pulled out all the stops to get a victory in their District 24-3A opener, but the La Marque Cougars had other ideas Friday night.
The Cougars scored two touchdowns in the second half, one of those with less than 2 minutes left in the game, to overcome the Bulldogs 17-10.
Defense was the order of the night as both teams played tough. The Bulldogs limited the Cougars to 189 yards of total offense.
“I can’t say enough about our defense and the improvement they made,” Sweeny coach Paul Kilby said. “In the second half, I don’t know how many times we made them punt to give us chance after chance when it was 10-10. One thing or another we just couldn’t get rolling on offense. We made some mistakes, but we’ll improve.”
After allowing 159 yards in the first half, the La Marque defense clamped down on the Sweeny offense and allowed 115 yards the rest of the night.
“They were in the exact same defense the whole night,” said Kilby, whose team fell to 4-2. “You got to give credit to La Marque. They are five-time state champion. I told the kids we’re playing a team that has the heart of a champion and I think we do, too. But there is never going to be any quit in La Marque. Their defense outplayed us tonight.”
Down 10-3 at the half, the Cougars went to work in the second half. After stopping the Bulldogs on their opening drive of the third quarter, La Marque mounted an 84-yard drive to tie the game.
Cougar running back Daquan Jones capped the long drive with a 10-yard touchdown run with 5:49 left in the third quarter. Ricky Guillen’s kick knotted the score 10-10.
Jones finished the game with 116 yards rushing.
Both teams traded punts until the 3:28 mark of the fourth quarter. That’s when the Cougars marched 69 yards for the winning touchdown. It started with a 49-yard run by quarterback Ladarrian Ellis-Jones to the Bulldogs’ 20. Then an interference penalty on the next play gave the ball to La Marque at the Sweeny 5.
After a couple of plays and a penalty backed the Cougars up to the Sweeny 7, Ellis-Jones streaked through the middle of the Sweeny defense for the touchdown with 1:36 left in the game.
Ellis-Jones got most of his 54 yards rushing on that drive.
In the first half, the Bulldogs used a bit of trickery to put them in the lead. With the game tied 3-3, Sweeny set up for a 39-yard field goal attempt by Blayne Bailey. On the play, the ball was flipped to Dorland Fields, who then tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Phillip Higgins with 3:39 left in the first half. Bailey’s extra point gave Sweeny a 10-3 lead.
Anthany Simmons kept the scoring drive alive when he ran 22 yards to the La Marque 22 on a fake punt.
Guillen gave La Marque a 3-0 lead with a 24-yard field goal with 9:37 left in the first quarter. This came after Reggie Franklin returned the opening kick for La Marque to the Sweeny 29. The Bulldogs’ defense stiffened and held the Cougars to a field goal.
Bailey opened the second quarter for Sweeny with a 26-yard field goal with 11:12 left in the first half to tie the game 3-3.