BATTLING THROUGH ADVERSITY

CLASS 2A ROUNDUP: Valley Mills drops third straight, looks for first win on Homecoming Night; Coming off overwhelming loss at Bosqueville, Meridian relish open date before playing in District 10-2A, DII

With both Bosque County Class 2A teams still searching for the win column after suffering convincing losses on the road, the Division I Valley Mills Eagles return home with hopes of turning their season around on Homecoming Night, while the DII Meridian Yellowjackets will use an open week in the schedule to lick their wounds and get ready to open District 10-2A, DII competition.

DELEON 52, VALLEY MILLS 20

Still searching for their identity, the Class 2A, Division I Valley Mills Eagles took off fast before sinking to their third straight loss to open the season, falling to the DeLeon Bearcats, 52-20, on the road last Friday night.

After the Eagles got on the scoreboard in the first quarter when sophomore quarterback Blayne Griner hit sophomore Preston Southern on a 36-yard touchdown pass, DeLeon (2-1) responded with 26 unanswered points to take control of the game before halftime.

While connecting with Southern for two scores, Griner completed 15 of 30 passes for 216 yards with junior Jacob Garcia hauling in eight passes for 125 yards and Southern finished with four catches for 47.

On the ground, junior Jasean Johnson rushed for a team-high 134 yards on 31 carries with a touchdown on a six-yard run in the third quarter.

“We allowed their tempo to get us out of position defensively, and we gave up too many points early,” Valley Mills head coach Bob Featherston said. “We played okay on offense. But we still had mental mistakes that caused us chances to score and keep our defense off the field.”

Defensively, Valley Mills (0-3) surrendered 445 yards of total offense to the Bearcats, who engineered a balanced attack against the Eagles. DeLeon completed 10 of 16 passes for 164 yards and four touchdowns, while rushing for 281 yards and three more scores.

Junior Cooper Wolf led the Eagles with nine tackles, followed by freshman Bryson Bell with seven, senior Connor Hartzog with six as well as senior Chris Gentry and sophomore Cross Warner with five each, while junior Caleb Same pulled down an interception and Hartzog came up with a fumble recovery.

“Our defense was hurried, which caused busts in the secondary,” Featherston said. “This also caused a breakdown in the overall structure of the defense.”

Valley Mills returns home to host the Blooming Grove Lions (0-3) on Homecoming Night at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The winless Lions are coming off a 53-6 loss at home against Mildred.

“We have to find a way to limit mistakes and be consistent,” Featherston said. “We will need to be physical this week against Blooming Grove. They have some big, strong kids. If we can hold our ground and get a push on offense, we will have a chance to compete well with them.”

BOSQUEVILLE 61, MERIDIAN 16

Getting a chance to regroup and heal some wounds could not have come at a better time for the Class 2A, Division II Meridian Yellowjackets.

In the final non-district tune-up for the injured and undermanned Jackets, Class 2A, DI Bosqueville jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back as the Bulldogs handed Meridian an overwhelming 61-16 road loss last Friday night.

“I am very disappointed in the way we played Friday night,” Meridian head coach Jim Kerbow said. “We have a lot of adjustments to make and several players we need to get well.”

With the injuries becoming almost insurmountable over the last two weeks, the Jackets will have an open date before opening District 10-2A, DII competition at home against Hubbard on Homecoming Night Sept. 27 in Jacket Stadium.

“Obviously with our injuries mounting, our open week has come at a good time,” Kerbow said. “We will take this opportunity to heal up and be ready for our district opener in two weeks against Hubbard.”

Scoring early and often, Bosqueville (3-0) effectively moved the ball on the ground and through the air. In the meantime, the Bulldog defense completely shut down Meridian for three quarters. With the Jacket trailing 55-0, Meridian (0-3) finally got on the scoreboard with 10:53 left in the game.

Although the Jackets found some success running the ball with senior Ian Gomez rushing for a team-high 68 yards on 13 carries followed by senior quarterback Matty Jones with 38 yards on seven scrambles, Meridian struck for some big plays through the air.

Connecting with junior Garrett Pope on a 50-yard touchdown pass and hitting sophomore Walyn Sheppard on a 15-yard scoring strike, Jones completed eight of 11 passes for 125 yards to earn Offensive Player of the Game honors. Sheppard finished with three catches for 64 yards, followed by Pope with three receptions for 57 yards.

“We did start to click on offense late in the third quarter,” Kerbow said. “Defensively, though, we had issues with gap integrity. Poor defense is what made the difference in this one.”

Named the Defensive Player of the Game, sophomore Ezekiel Mabry led the Jackets with six tackles and two assists, followed by junior Isaac Lira and Pope with two each. Sheppard was named the Special Teams Player of the Game, while freshman Ashton Allen drew Practice Player of the Week recognition.

“We had a poor showing defensively Friday night,” Kerbow said. “We will work to get those issues resolved this week and be ready for Hubbard.”