WIN WORTH THE WAIT
After postponement due to inclement weather, Meridian Yellow Jackets pull out thrilling 29-28 victory over the Frost Polar Bears on the road in the District 10-2A, DII season finale
FROST – It proved to be a long time in coming, in more ways than one. But when the Meridian Yellow Jackets finally walked off the field with their first win of the season, it was undeniably worth the wait.
Senior Dustan Bowers ran for two touchdowns, senior Brady Taylor rushed for another, and junior Brayden Wehmeyer connected with sophomore Matty Jones on a scoring strike to lead the Jackets to a exciting, nail-biting 29-28 victory over the Frost Polar Bears on the road Saturday morning in the District 10-2A, Division II regular season finale.
With multiple schools in the area releasing students early last Friday, Navarro County officials were predicting a supercell with strong thunderstorms and possible tornadoes Friday evening, leading to the postponement of the game to Saturday.
Not only did the Jackets avoid its second winless season in school history with the win, Meridian snapped a 13-game losing streak dating back to Oct. 8 of last season.
“It was a huge win for our program,” Meridian head coach Jim Kerbow said. “We had to battle through adversity the entire game. It came down to stopping a two-point conversion with 21 seconds left. That game really showed the character of our kids and how relentless they were.”
With the Jackets producing their highest scoring output of the season, Taylor led Meridian with 81 yards rushing on 14 carries, followed by Bowers with 57 yards on eight attempts. Contributing with a complementary passing game, Weymeyer completed nine of 13 passes for 71 yards, connecting with Jones three times for 48 yards.
“Offensively, we moved the ball more efficiently than we had all season,” Kerbow said. “We still had a couple big turnovers that kept us from pulling away early in the fourth quarter. One of those fumbles came in the Red Zone, while the other was scooped and scored on. But our kids never put their heads down, they kept battling.”
Despite the turnovers, the Jacket defense battled to keep Meridian in the game. And in the final moments, the defense came up with the big stop on the two-point conversion attempt to preserve the victory. Taylor led the Jackets with 18 tackles, followed by junior Noah Alvizo with 16, junior John Wyatt with 11 and Alejandro Rodriguez with 10. Freshman Jesse Scott pulled down an interception while Taylor, Bowers, Jones, Scott and sophomore Ian Gomez came up with fumble recoveries.
“The defense did a great job all day,” Kerbow said. “They flew to the ball and caused some turnovers. However, we had some errors that cost us late in the fourth. But like I said, above all, our kids were relentless and moved on to the next play.”
With only five seniors, the Jackets will have plenty coming back next season to build on. But those five seniors – Dustan Bowers at running back and outside linebacker, Gauge Chandler at outside linebacker, Duante Crawford wide receiver and defensive back, Alejandro Rodriguez at wide receiver and defensive back, and Brady Taylor running back and linebacker – will leave big shoes to fill.
“Our seniors have been great leaders,” Kerbow said. “They have been very positive even though the season has not gone the way we had anticipated. So these seniors will be tough to replace on and off the field.”
In addition to a large and talented group of eighth graders moving into high school next year, the Jackets will have 21 underclassmen lettermen returning.
“We have some leaders that have emerged in our current junior class – Noah Alvizo, Brayden Wehmeyer, Austin Pogue, John Wyatt and Brian Ratliff,” Kerbow said. “I believe they have seen what we are capable of. And if we can have a great spring and summer, we can look for good things coming next season.”
Refusing to give up and accept moving down to play six-man football in 2022, the proud Meridian football program chose to opt up and stay on the 11-man gridiron despite diminishing enrollment numbers. Consequently, the Jackets have assumed the role of David taking on a host of Goliaths all season long.
Despite battling the numbers disadvantage, the Jackets have taken strides in the right direction while growing up on the gridiron over the last three seasons. Although Meridian has not qualified for the postseason since 2017, the Jackets have a rich Texas high school football tradition dating back to 1916 – four seasons before the University Interscholastic League even existed. While posting an impressive all-time 538-410-36 win-loss-tie record for a .565 winning percentage, the Jackets have qualified for the postseason 26 times and won 16 district titles.
Inheriting a football program that has now posted a dismal 6-43 win-loss record over the last five seasons with a 3-22 district mark, Kerbow knew coming in that his coaching staff would have its work cut out for them. But even with the low enrollment numbers that left the Jackets with Class 1A numbers while opting up to play as the smallest 11-man football team in the state, Meridian has no plans to reconsider converting to six-man football for next season.
“If our current enrollment numbers hold steady through next fall, we will turn in 2A numbers for the 2024-2026 realignment,” Kerbow said. “Therefore, we do not feel that it is in the best interest of our athletes to move towards six-man football.”
Photos by WENDY OROZCO
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