Dogs fall short

Related Photos

David Magallanes

Discussion

September 19, 2009

New Waverly misses out on several scoring opportunites in three-point loss to Franklin

By Gene Schallenberg The Huntsville Item Sat Sep 19, 2009, 01:17 AM CDT

NEW WAVERLY — The Bulldogs may have been depleted, but they weren’t about to give any excuses.

After suffering a rash of injuries in recent weeks, New Waverly knew that it had to step up its game. The Bulldogs had their chances, but couldn’t take advantage against a stout Franklin squad. In the end, the Dogs had the ball with a chance to win but fell short in the final minute in a 21-18 loss to the Lions on Friday.

“They outphysicaled us. They were in more shape than we were,” senior lineman Justin Ward said. “They saw that, took a hold of it and ran with it.”

The Bulldogs (2-2), who trailed most of the game, got within striking distance after senior running back Tyren Watts, who carried the ball 11 times for 149 yards, scored on a 28-yard counter run in the fourth quarter. The 2-point conversion failed to make the score 21-18 with a little less than 10 minutes remaining in the game.

But the Lions (3-1) put together a lengthy drive that took nearly all the time off the clock.

Franklin got six first downs on the 20-play, 58-yard drive and were in position to take a two-score lead with a third-and-2 from New Waverly’s 6-yard line. But a holding penalty pushed the Lions back 10 yards. Running back Darius Floyd could only gain one yard on a sweep. The Dogs (2-2) came up with the stop they needed when running back Scott Sanders dropped a pass from quarterback Jonathon Eiman on fourth down.

With no timeouts left, the Bulldogs had to drive 85 yards in 62 seconds. On the first play of the drive, quarterback X’Zavious Harrison completed a 12-yard pass to Watts, who ran out of bounds at the 27 to stop the clock. After two false starts, Harrison fumbled the snap and had to fall on the ball as the clock continued to tick.

New Waverly threw the ball three times downfield, but couldn’t connect with any receivers as it turned the ball over on downs, effectively ending the game.

The Bulldogs had a wealth of opportunities throughout the game but couldn’t convert when they needed.

New Waverly recovered three of Franklin’s fumbles and had first downs on the Lions’ 5-yard line twice, but could only convert on those chances for one touchdown.

“We had three chances to convert and we didn’t,” New Waverly head coach Ken Craig said. “At the end of the first half, we didn’t convert and another time in the first and in the second half. Three times we should’ve scored and we didn’t. We just needed one out of the three.

“It was the kind of game I thought it was going to be. I knew it was going to be close.”

With plenty of underclassmen on New Waverly’s defensive line and at linebacker, the Lions saw that they could take advantage of some mismatches and did just that. A trio of Franklin running backs rushed for more than 100 yards, including Sanders, who scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in the third quarter.

The Lions ended up gaining 420 yards on the ground and three scores.

“We just got a lot of heart on this team,” Sanders said. “We stayed after it and kept driving.”

The Bulldogs will head to Huntington next week for their final nondistrict game.

“A lot of positives can be taking from a loss like this with so many of our starters out,” Craig said. “I’m proud we stuck in there and didn’t lay down and let them run over us.

“This is just another step in the learning process.”

Text Only

Bulldog Sports

All-State Bulldogs
After advancing all the way to the regional semifinals as relative unknowns with little playoff experience in 2009, the Bulldogs knew they would have a lot more attention in 2010.
Ranked among the top five in the state for most the season, New Waverly did not disappoint.

June 22, 2010
Dynamic Duo
NEW WAVERLY — The taste is still bitter for the Bulldogs.
The New Waverly baseball squad is still haunted from last year’s surprising exit in the regional semifinals against White Oak. The Dogs took game one of the best-of-three series and had a 6-1 lead in the second contest heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.
Things went terribly wrong from there and New Waverly was left wondering what happened as White Oak rallied to win two in a row and steal the series.

May 12, 2010 1 Story
Complete package
NEW WAVERLY — New Waverly baseball coach Tommy Bohannon was hoping he could talk Hardin, the Bulldogs’ area-round playoff opponent, into moving up next week’s series to accommodate the state track and field meet.

May 7, 2010
New Waverly boys still within range of advancing to state
After finishing their first round on the Oak Hurst Course at Peach Tree Golf Club in Bullard, things looked bleak for the New Waverly boys as they turned in a team score of 372.

April 19, 2010
Bulldogs are back again in 2010
They’ve been here before and know Austin all too well.Two years ago, the New Waverly Bulldogs made their first trip to the state tournament, but it ended rather quickly in a disappointing blowout loss to Tuscola Jim Ned.
Then last March, the Bulldogs got past Shallowater and advanced to the state championship game only to fall to defending state champion Ponder 51-39.
This time around, the Bulldogs are determined to take another step forward and come back with a state championship. They’re back again in 2010, and they say they’re going to finish the job this time.

March 11, 2010
Bulldogs pass first test
NEW CANEY — Though it had been more than a week since the New Waverly boys played a meaningful game, the Dogs didn’t show an ounce of rust Thursday night.
With a strong defensive effort, the top-ranked Bulldogs cruised past East Chambers 78-36 and into the Region III quarterfinals where they’ll face either fourth-ranked Kountze or Buffalo early next week.

February 25, 2010
Lady Dogs live to play another day Leading by 16 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, it appeared as if the Lady Dogs would coast to an easy playoff victory.

The only problem was that Kirbyville never stopped playing. The feisty Ladycats made a game out of it.

Barely, the Lady Dogs held on, escaping with a 52-51 victory in Angelina College’s Shands Gym to advance to the area round of the Class 2A playoffs.
February 15, 2010 2 Photos
Lady Bulldogs start playoffs Monday night in Lufkin
February 13, 2010
Dogs clinch outright district title NEW WAVERLY — If the Bulldogs haven’t already made space in the trophy case, they can do so now.
February 12, 2010
Lady Hornets set playoff date The Lady Hornets might have lost out on an outright district title Tuesday night at Willis, but the Lady Hornets got a big win Wednesday.
February 11, 2010
More Bulldog Sports Headlines

Bulldog Sports

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Dogs fall short

New Waverly misses out on several scoring opportunites in three-point loss to Franklin

Site Map

Contact Us