Greenwood 17 Crane 14

[GWOOD]

Greenwood kicks a 32 FG with 1:00 left to go ahead.

We made mistakes early in the game and Crane made mistakes late in the game. Not an impressive win for Greenwood but a win nevertheless.

[LH Panther Mom]

Good job, Rangers! :)

[GWOOD]

09/08/2007
Sewell kicks Greenwood to victory
Oscar Leroy
Midland Reporter-Telegram

CRANE -- Aubrey Sewell picked the perfect time to kick his first field goal for Greenwood.

Sewell nailed a 36-yard field goal with 1:06 remaining to lift the Rangers to a 17-14 victory over Crane on Friday night in a game dominated by defense.

But in the end, it was Greenwood's defense which stole the show in the fourth quarter with an interception return for a touchdown and a key fumble recovery which set up Sewell's game winner.

The Ranger defense stripped quarterback Lloyd Chisum of the ball at the Crane 22-yard line with 2:46 left in the game. Three plays later, Sewell stepped up and hit the 36-yarder to be the Ranger hero on this night.

Greenwood coach Steve Taylor said Sewell played soccer in Midland and wanted to come kick for the Rangers (1-1) and play nothing else.

"We're glad we let him," Taylor said. "I thought he would probably win a game for us, but I didn't know it would be the second game of the year."

Sewell said he didn't think about the kick when he got on the field.

"It's just like the kicks in practice. It was just routine," Sewell said. "I knew everybody would be blocking and it would be a good snap and a good hold. We've been working all summer and I knew it would be good.

"Everybody played hard and I didn't want to let anybody down."

Crane (1-1) had taken a 14-7 lead late in the third quarter when Chisum hit Josh Figueroa for a 12-yard touchdown pass.

It stayed that way until the 8-minute mark of the fourth quarter when Willie Dains -- who wasn't even supposed to play because of an injured shoulder -- stepped in front of a Chisum pass and returned it 38 yards for the game-tying score.

"The defense came through and we still have to get in shape," Taylor said. "We still got tired and I think that's why we didn't move the ball better. But the defense came up huge and got 10 big points to help us win the game."

Give credit to the Crane defense as well as it held Greenwood to 201 total yards, including just 90 yards rushing.

"They played lights out," said Crane coach Naldo Esparza. "Against a real big offensive line, we knew they were going to try to control the game by running the football and (the defense) did a tremendous job. I thought they came up with a great plan against Greenwood."

Crane still had a chance at the end of the game but a pass from 37 yards out by Chisum fell just short of the goal line as time expired.

Early in the game, it was a matter of which team would capitalize on the other's mistake.

After an interception by Brandon Herring early in the first quarter, the Rangers went on a long drive, which ate up a little more than eight minutes off the clock and 68 yards in 15 plays. But the Rangers would come up empty when they fumbled the ball at the Crane 7-yard line.

The Golden Cranes would take advantage when they went on an impressive drive of their own, going 93 yards on 14 plays, culminating with a 4-yard touchdown run by quarterback Chisum to give Crane a 7-0 advantage with 9:43 left in the first half. On that drive, Greenwood had a interception called back because of a holding penalty.

The Rangers finally got on the board with 2:09 left in the second quarter, via a long TD pass. Noe Rodriguez hit Colby Gilbert on a fade to the far sideline and Gilbert then scampered the rest of the 39 yards for the score to tie the game at 7 going into the locker room.

Greenwood 17, Crane 14

Greenwood 0 7 0 10 --17

Crane 0 7 7 0 --14

Second Quarter

Crane -- Lloyd Chisum 4 run (Daniel Padilla kick), 9:43

Greenwood -- Colby Gilbert 39 pass from Noe Rodriguez (Aubrey Sewell kick), 2:09

Third Quarter

Crane -- Josh Figueroa 12 pass from Chisum (Padilla kick), 2:20

Fourth Quarter

Greenwood -- Willie Dains 38 interception return (Sewell kick), 8:00

Greenwood -- FG Sewell 32, 1:06

GRE CRANE

First Downs 10 13

Rushes-yards 36-92 33-101

Passing yards 111 120

Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-13-0 7-22-3

Punts-Avg. 7-32.0 4-36.5

Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1

Penalties-yds 8-75 7-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Greenwood, Blake McColloch 9-44, Bryce Williams 7-24, Kinsey Williams 12-34, Noe Rodriguez 7-2. Crane, Lloyd Chisum 17-47, Cody Black 11-28, Jordan Mendoza 5-26.

PASSING --- Greenwood, Rodriguez 6-12-0--111, McColloch 0-1-0--0. Crane, Chisum 7-22-3--120.

RECEIVING -- Greenwood, Colby Gilbert 2-63, McColloch 3-52, Brandon Herring 1-1. Crane, Justin Carrasco 4-71, Josh Figueroa 1-12, Teague Esparza 1-26, Tyler Esparza 1-11

INTERCEPTIONS -- Greenwood, Herring 1-0, K. Williams 1-10, Willie Dains 1-38

MISSED FIELD GOALS -- Crane, Padilla 50 (WL)