Undisputed champs — again

New Waverly denies Buffalo share of 21-2A title with 21-14 victory

By Gene Schallenberg

BUFFALO — It’s not every day that being greedy can be a good thing.

The defense tightened up when it needed to and the Bulldogs held off Buffalo for a 21-14 victory Friday night. With the win, New Waverly won its second straight outright District 21-2A title.

“From the beginning of the year, we set out to be district champs by ourselves again,” senior lineman Justin Ward said. “To do that we knew we had to beat Corrigan and we had to beat Buffalo. We knew that Buffalo was going to bring it all, which they did. They brought a heck of a game. They brought everything they had and we brought everything we had. We just came out on top.

“It means everything to me that we don’t have to share this championship. I wanted, as a senior, for us to have another undefeated district season. That’s what we set out to do from the beginning of the year.”

As the top seed from District 21 in the Class 2A small-school playoff bracket, the Bulldogs, which improved to 5-0 in district and 8-2 overall, will meet Woodville next Friday at Huntsville’s Bowers Stadium in the bi-district round.

Like any path to a championship, it wasn’t easy and that certainly was the case Friday.

Buffalo did everything it could to make things as uncomfortable as possible for the Bulldogs.

Trailing by seven with just minutes to play, the Bison (3-2 in district, 7-3 overall) were driving deep into New Waverly territory and the Bulldogs needed to make a stand.

A 3-yard rush by junior running back Aurelio Dominguez put the Bison inside New Waverly’s 20-yard line.

But on fourth-and-2 from the 19, the Bulldogs defense stepped up and stuffed senior Aaron Bell at the line of the scrimmage.

“We were determined,” Ward added. “We knew that if we stopped him here, we would win the game. We came out and our defense threw everything we had and we stopped them.”

After the defense stood tall, the offense took over with less than six minutes to play. New Waverly moved the chains four times and then set up in the victory formation twice to run out the clock, remaining perfect in district.

“We did some things real nice and we did some things that were bone-headed,” said New Waverly head coach Ken Craig, still soaking after a watercooler bath.

“Overall, I’ll take being undefeated district champions two years in a row. Give (Buffalo) a lot of credit. They were coached up and they played hard from start to finish. That’s what a district championship game is supposed to be like. They wanted some of it and we didn’t want to give it up.”

The Bulldogs, who had taken the lead just before halftime on a last-second 45-yard heave from senior X’Zavious Harrison to Kyren Watts, found themselves trying to get back momentum they had lost in the beginning of the third quarter.

New Waverly was in prime position to take a two-score lead with the ball inside Buffalo’s 20-yard line.

Harrison looked to complete a quick pass to junior Dillian Scott, but Bison junior Ryan Read picked off the pass.

A little more than four minutes and 10 plays later, the Bison knotted the game at 14 on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by senior Jordan Canady.

On the ensuing possession, the Bulldogs started on their own 31. Harrison helped move New Waverly in Bison territory with a 20-yard keeper. After a holding penalty, which moved the Dogs near midfield, Harrison found senior running back Tyren Watts for a 10-yard gain. Senior Colton Wyatt was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage on the next play to give New Waverly third-and-12 from Buffalo’s 37.

But the Bulldogs didn’t just look for the first down, they wanted points.

Harrison scrambled around after feeling pressure and chucked the ball toward the end zone.

Scott was wide open in the end zone and held off a defender who was quickly closing in and pulled in the go-ahead touchdown with 56 seconds to play in the third. With the lead in hand, the defense did the rest.

“Zay (Harrison) looked at me and just told me to get open,” Scott said. “I passed by the safety and when he threw it, it took forever to come down. Zay put it in the perfect spot. I was either going to catch it or I was going to drop, but there was no way the safety was going to make a play on it.”