NEW WAVERLY — If New Waverly ever needed a wake-up call, the Bulldogs certainly got one Friday night.
The Dogs were plagued by injuries, mired by penalties and tackled poorly. All that ended up costing them as Hearne defeated New Waverly 34-20 at Bulldog Stadium
“We play these games to get ready for the ones that count in district,” New Waverly head coach Ken Craig said. “We will be better because of this loss. It’s not always a bad thing to get the finish knocked off you. You don’t ever like to lose, but it is certainly an opportunity to grow from it and turn it into a positive.”
With an eight-point lead in the fourth-quarter, Hearne (2-0) got the lengthy drive it was looking for. The Eagles got four first downs and melted more than six minutes off the clock during a 61-yard, 11-play drive before icing the game with a 1-yard touchdown with 41 seconds to play.
“We needed to just have a long drive,” Hearne head coach Ralph Lymas said. “We have a very fast team. Everybody knows that we have great speed. We needed to learn how to drive the football and work the clock and we did.”
After building a 14-0 lead in the first half on a pair of rushing touchdowns from junior fullback K.D. Scott, things started to go sour for the Bulldogs (1-1) late in the second quarter.
With a little more than two minutes remaining in the half, the Eagles started to gain momentum.
Quarterback Shedrick Taylor got the Bulldog defense to bite on a play-action fake and found wideout Cornelius Workman in the end zone.
On the next possession, the Bulldogs went three-and-out thanks to an offensive pass interference penalty. Due to New Waverly’s punter, Matt Gray, being injured earlier in the game, the Dogs were forced to go for it on fourth-and-11 from the 24 and could only get eight yards on a run from Tyren Watts.
On the next play, Taylor found Workman again for a 32-yard strike with 30 seconds left in the half. Hearne failed to get the 2-point conversion, which left New Waverly ahead 14-12.
But that didn’t last long as the Bulldogs took some more lumps in the second half.
Eagles sophomore running back DeKendrick Jeffery took the kickoff to start the third quarter 80 yards for a score to put Hearne on top for the first time.
New Waverly looked to get back in it and moved the ball deep into Hearne territory. But senior quarterback X’Zavious Harrison fumbled and Hearne recovered.
Things went from bad to worse for the Bulldogs.
Hearne scored on the next possession on another Taylor-to-Workman touchdown connection from as the Dogs fell for the play action again and Workman was all alone in the end zone.
The Bulldogs countered with a 14-yard run from Watts with 44 seconds left in the third quarter, but they couldn’t muster any more offense.
“We just have to come together as a team,” Harrison said. “We broke apart in that second half. We can’t do that.”
One of the reasons the Bulldogs couldn’t pull off the comeback was the problem they had with penalties.
New Waverly wracked up nearly 100 yards worth of penalties, including three personal fouls. Most of the penalties came on the offensive side of the ball with five false starts and two offensive pass interference calls.
“I know I could’ve done better,” senior wide receiver Kyren Watts said. “I had 45 yards worth of penalties myself. Emotions were high. You can’t play like that. Those emotions hurt us a lot. You can’t win if you make the most penalties.”
With the loss fresh in their minds, the Bulldogs will attempt to rebound when they go on the road to next week to face West Hardin.
“We have to be able to overcome adversity,” Kyren Watts added. “We have to be able to take that next step.”
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Dogs upended
Hearne scores 22 points in second half to down New Waverly 34-20
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