Halliburton's account of Orangefield win over Anahuac

[Small fry]

'Cats wallop Anahuac, 49-14

By Tom Halliburton

   Orangefield absolutely took Anahuac to the cleaners on Thursday night in a game that never felt like a District 10-3A-1 championship game at all.

   Coach Jeff Breaux’s group performed like champions at F.L. McClain Stadium, executing flawless offensive, defensive and special teams game plans and delivering Bobcat Nation a quite convincing 49-14 victory.

   The Bobcats (7-1 and 4-0) did their part but their guests never countered with enough responses to create the type of shootout that it was expected to become.

   Anahuac (5-4 and 4-1) trailed 14-0 before it ever snapped the ball and found itself in a 21-0 dungeon less than 10 minutes into the game.

   “It kinda got away from us quick tonight,” said Panthers coach Greg Neece, who had to think his team would make this a more competitive matchup. “All the credit should go to them. Orangefield just has a great football team.”

    Maybe so, but the Bobcats rarely had welcomed this type of one-sided enjoyment in several of their wins – 35-28 at East Chambers, 20-7 over Buna, 18-16 at Bridge City, 30-24 over Hardin-Jefferson. What changed against Anahuac?

    It started with a picture-perfect game plan. Perhaps the extra week of preparation mattered. Coming off an open date, Breaux and his staff had two weeks to get ready and their seniors looked very fit and ready for the occasion.

   Perhaps the turning point came when the Bobcats walked into their locker room after pre-game warmups and senior quarterback Hunter Gonzales shouted to his mates, “let’s get laser-focused.”

    That’s the kind of superior leader this four-year starter has been as a football and baseball star at Orangefield. He showed it again Thursday night, running for two touchdowns, throwing for three touchdowns and guiding an offense to a 403-yard night (251 rushing and 152 passing).

    Gonzales got his message across to his mates. Senior running back Gage Lucas carried 20 times for 151 yards and three touchdowns. Senior receiver Cole Sanches grabbed five receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown. A trio of senior blockers Landon Eads, Andrew Pachuca, and Victor Martinez gouged out hole after hole in the middle of Anahuac’s defense.

    Anahuac’s offense entered Thursday with a league’s best 383-yard total offense average. The Bobcats limited them to 227 yards. The subject of Bobcats’ defense started with senior end Hayden Clark, and teammates Bryce Hooks, Simon Dotson and Cylan Granger. A few of these seniors wanted to make a memorable impression.

   Anahuac brought the league’s leading rusher and scorer, Jaytwan Dowdye, into this shootout, but the Bobcats defense knew where he was all night. Dowdye ended the night with 64 yards on 14 carries and no points.

   When Panthers quarterback Braydon Sutch wanted to throw, Orangefield’s pursuit intensified the pressure. Sutch discovered it at the end of Anahuac’s opening second-half possession. The Panthers marched to the Cats’ 28 but Jacob Walters forced Sutch to fumble and Granger dashed 19 yards with the recovery into Anahuac’s territory.

   “Our plan was to give great effort,” Hayden Clark said. “We felt like they did a lot of trickery so it was important for us to stay in our gaps.”

   Another significant senior hero in this outcome was the versatile Gavin Gravett, a solid defender and kicker. Seven-for-seven on extra points was helpful but Gravett was most valuable on kickoffs. He consistently befuddled Anahuac’s return team with squib kicks.

   When Gravett booted his first squib, the Panthers never found the handle and Orangefield’s Sanches claimed the free ball at Anahuac’s 38. Gonzales turned a 7-0 lead into a 14-0 cushion six plays after the fumble with a four-yard scoring run behind blocker Jacob Walters.

    Orangefield’s head coach respected Anahuac’s speed on kick returns and implemented the right strategy to offset that threat.

    “We watched video where Anahuac had returned two kicks for touchdowns and we didn’t want to give them that opportunity,” Breaux said.

    When the handshake lines started, Orangefield’s players never celebrated as if they had captured a district championship. That’s because the Bobcats haven’t done that yet. Two more regular-season games remain, starting with next Friday’s trip to Coldspring. 

   Tom Halliburton a senior sports correspondent for the Beaumont Enterprise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WOSdrummer99]

Great summary Mr Halliburton

I fixed the double post for you @Small fry