On a mild Friday evening, the New Caney Eagles prepared to take on the Willis WildKats to kick off district play for both teams. The Eagles enter the game coming off a dominant win against the Porter Spartans 49-0. The WildKats enter the game 1-1 coming off a loss to the Temple Wildcats 34-20. Both teams enter division play with high expectations for the season. The WildKats are led by their heavily college recruited quarterback, Junior Derek Lagway. Lagway entered the game with 458 passing yards with 6 touchdown passes and 190 rushing yards with 1 touchdown over the first 2 games of the season. The Eagles defense prepared all week for the dual threat quarterback in an effort to contain and minimize his impact on the game.
The Eagles sent out captains Kedrick Reescano, Daylen Wilson, and Rylan Hurst for the coin toss. The Eagles won the toss and deferred to the second half. Both teams would go three and out to start the game.
On the WildKats second drive of the game, they would put together a 10 play 66-yard touchdown drive. The WildKats were 3rd and 10 from the Eagles 12-yard line when Lagway found wide receiver Jalen Mickens for 12-yard touchdown catch. The WildKats converted the extra point and took an early lead 7-0 over the Eagles.
The Eagles Kayden Cooper returned the kickoff 14 yards to the Eagles 21-yard line to start the next drive. On the 3rd play of the drive, Eagles quarterback Nehemiah Broussard would find wide receiver Dravon Wilson after breaking a few tackles would take it for a 70-yard completion down to the WildKats 7-yard line. Kedrick Reescano would tie the game on the next play with a 7-yard touchdown run. Oregon would add the extra point.
The WildKats would take over after the kickoff at their own 35-yard line. The WildKats would go three and out after a holding penalty set them behind the chains on second down and could not covert the next 2 pass attempts forcing the punt. The Eagles would take over on their own 45-yard line after a short punt.
On the first play of the drive, Kedrick Reescano would take the handoff behind pulling tackle Johnnie Bailey (I got to give the lineman some love too). Bailey would make a nice block to spring Reescano to the second level of the defense where he would break a tackle and take it 55 yards for the Touchdown. The Eagles would not be able to convert the 2-point attempt and would take the lead 13-7 at the end of the first quarter.
After the kickoff, the WildKats would take over on their own 34-yard line. The WildKats would convert 2 first downs on 4th and 1 plays before Lagway finds tight end Zach Lang on a seam route wide open for a 25 yard touchdown. WildKats make the extra point and would take the lead again 14-13.
Kayden Cooper would return the ensuing kickoff 12 yards to the Eagle 21-yard line. The eagles would go on a scoring drive over the next 8 plays for 79 yards. Nehemiah Broussard would connect with Dravon Wilson on a 24-yard pass play and again with Eric Sanchez for 18 yards down to the 1-yard line. Kedrick Reescano would finish the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Oregon would add the extra point and the Eagles would take the lead 20-14.
The Eagles would kick the ball out of bound on the next kickoff and the WildKats would take over at the 30-yard line. On the first play of drive, Lagway would hand the ball off to Robinson and Eagles Daylen Wilson would meet the Wilson in the backfield for a 2-yard loss. On the next play, Lagway would drop back to pass and would be sacked by Tayte Backer for another 2-yard loss. On the third play of the drive, Lagway dropped back to pass and tried to hit his receiver on a 10-yard hitch route which was jumped by Safety CJ Blocker. Blocker intercepted the ball and returned it 37 yards for the touchdown. Oregon would add the extra point and the Eagles would extend their lead to 27-14.
The Eagles were accessed a penalty and forced to kick off from the 25-yard line. The kickoff would be returned to the WildKats 38-yard line. On 3rd and 6, Lagway tried to air it out to one of his receivers and the Eagles were called for pass interference as the ball fell incomplete giving the WildKats a first down on the penalty. On 3rd and 10, Jalen Menny would intercept a ball that was tipped off the wide receivers’ hands and Menny brought it back 17 yards to the WildKats 46-yard line.
The Eagles would start the next drive off with a false start pushing them back to their own 49-yard line. Reescano would get the yardage back on the next play before Broussard finds Eric Sanchez for an 8-yard pickup through the air. Broussard would take the next snap 27 yards on a quarterback designed run after picking up big blocks by Tayte Baker and Luke Johnson to get him free down to the WildKats 12-yard line. On 4th down and 3 from the 6-yard line, Reescano would take the direct snap and run it into the endzone for the 6-yard touchdown. Oregon would chip in the extra point making it 34-14 Eagles on top.
After the Eagles kickoff, the WildKats would take over at their own 34-yard line. On 2nd down and 10, Lagway dropped back to pass and was sacked by Ryland Hurst for a 9-yard loss. The WildKats would be forced to punt. The Eagles D.J. Lewis would block the ensuing punt and was picked up by Kasen Rios and returned to the 3-yard line. With 8 seconds left to go in the half, Reescano would take the direct snap and run it into the endzone for his 5th touchdown of the half. Oregon would add the extra point as we would go into the half 41-13.
The Eagles would receive the second half kickoff and fall on the ball at the 35-yardline. The Eagles would go on a 3 play 65-yard drive. On the first play of the drive, Broussard would take the snap and rush up the middle for a 19-yard pickup. Reescano would add a 6-yard run before Broussard would roll out to the left and find Blaine Lucas. Lucas was able to make a player miss and turned on the speed down the sideline for a 39-yard touchdown. Oregon again would add the extra point bringing the score to 48-14.
The WildKats would only get 7 yards on the kickoff return after a great tackle on special teams by David Stewart. After picking up 2 first down, the WildKats would be forced to punt. Kayden Cooper returned the punt 25 yards to their own 40-yard line to start the drive.
On 2nd down and 6, Broussard would drop back and drop the ball in perfectly to Dravon Wilson on a deep pass for a 65-yard touchdown. Oregon adds his 7th extra point, and the score is 55-14 Eagles.
The WildKats would score on their next possession on a 34-yard touchdown from backup quarterback Hutton Hoegemeyer to Debraun Hampton.
After the kickoff, the Eagles would take over at their own 21-yard line. Broussard would hook up with Eric Sanchez on a 10-yard pass to end the 3rd quarter. The first play of the 4th quarter, Broussard found Wilson on a 16 yard catch and run for the first down. On 1st and 10 from the Wild Kats 39-yard line, Backup running back Wardell Franklin Jr. takes the handoff and sprints 39 yards for the touchdown. Franklin picked up a great block down field by Christian Bedford on the play allowing him to get into the endzone.
The WildKats would score on the next drive with Hoegemeyer hooking up with Jalen Mickens for a 31-yard pass. Mickens second touchdown catch on the game. 62-28 Eagles
The Eagles would take the kickoff and run out the rest of the clock.
GAME ANALYSIS:
The New Caney Eagles offense put up a total of 473 yards, 230 on the ground and another 243 through the air. The offense which consisted mostly of running the football 27:12 rush to pass ratio, which had a lot to do with being ahead so much in the game. The offense was balanced during the competitive portion of the game. The offensive line agained dominated the line of scrimmaged opening some huge holes for the running backs for most of the night. They also did a very good job in pass protection not allowing a sack by the Willis Defense.
Nehemiah Broussard went 10/12 with 243 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. He also ran the ball 3 times for 58 yards.
Kendrick Reescano rushed 15 times for 123 yards and 5 touchdowns. Wardell Franklin Jr. chipped in with 5 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown.
Dravon Wilson had 6 catches for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns. Eric Sanchez contributed 3 catches for 35 yards and Blaine Lucas added 1 catch for 39 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Eagles were very opportunistic. They gave up a lot of yards through the air, but most were late in the game in a prevent style defense. The Eagles gave up a total of 283 yards. With 217 yards in the air and 66 yards on the ground. The Eagles put a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks and came away with 2 sacks and 2 interceptions on the night. 1 interception was returned for a touchdown and the second one led to a touchdown drive by the offense.
DJ Lewis led the team in Tackles with 8, Trayce Baker and Daylen Wilson added 6 and 5 tackles respectively.
CJ Blocker intercepted a Lagway pass in the second quarter and returned it 37 yards for the touchdown.
Jalen Menny intercepted a pass and returned it 17 yards also in the second quarter.
Tayte Baker and Ryland Hurst each picked up 1 sack in the game.
Special Teams again showed up and proved to be special for the second game in a row. DJ Lewis would block a punt in the second quarter that was picked up by Kasen Rios and returned down to the 3-yard line which led to another offensive score just before halftime. Israel Oregon would tack on 8 extra points in the game as well.
SPORTCAST PLAYER OF THE GAME:
This was a tough decision as many players had performances worthy of this award. Nehemiah Broussard was almost perfect in his pass attempts in the game. Kedrick Reescano had 5 touchdowns in the first half! The defense as a whole shut down a very talented offense for a majority of the game.
However, we have decided the player of the game will go to Dravon Wilson. When the eagles needed a big play to get rolling early in the game, Wilson delivered on a 70 yard catch and run play responding to the WildKats first score of the game and putting the Eagles in scoring position for their first points. Wilson also caught another 65-yard touchdown from Broussard later in the game and the other 4 passes he caught resulted in Eagles first downs to keep those scoring drives alive. Congratulations Dravon and to the entire team on a great win.
NOTES:
- The Eagles move to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in district play.
- Kedrick Reescano had 5 touchdowns tonight bringing his total rushing touchdown to 12 on the season.
- Nehemiah Broussard had 2 passing touchdowns tonight bringing his total to 6 touchdowns and 0 interceptions on the season.
- Daylen Wilson had 5 tackles tonight and leads the team with 21 tackles.
- Tayte Baker picked up a sack and now leads the team with 1.5 on the season.
- Israel Oregon has hit 19/19 extra point attempts on the season.
