Ricebirds run over Spartans
The Stafford football team had El Campo behind the chains on several plays, including on consecutive tackles for loss by Ashton Miller and Isaiah Bogerty on one third-quarter possession.
But it often did not stop the Ricebirds. Rueben Owens turned third and long into a 77-yard touchdown, accelerating through the second level to put the finishing touch on a 49-7 victory Friday at Stafford Municipal Stadium.
El Campo, which finished undefeated in District 12-4A Division I last year, improved to 5-1 overall in the district opener for both teams. Stafford, which closed non-district play with consecutive wins against Sealy and Wharton, fell to 2-4.
Owens finished with 227 yards and three touchdowns, including another 77-yard sprint to open the second-half scoring. Johntre Owens finished with 91 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
“It was a great all-around game, for the first district game,” El Campo coach Chad Worrell said. “That’s a talented team. That’s the best defensive team we’ve seen all year. They’re talented, and they do a good job coaching them. We were stymied a little bit moving the ball the first half, but we were able to make some adjustments as the game went on and have some success.”
El Campo used a diving, onehanded 49-yard catch by Dekoreyus Ward on third and long to extend its first drive, which Johntre Davis finished with a 9yard touchdown.
The Ricebirds held Stafford to three negative plays on the next drive and went back to Ward on offense, this time after a pitchback, for 42 yards. Owens did the rest, making a smooth cut outside and racing into open space for a 29-yard touchdown to help overcome a sack.
El Campo’s Ladarian Lewis recovered a fumbled snap shortly after, but the Ricebirds’ drive ended in Stafford stuffing a fake field goal attempt to leave the score 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Stafford got its offense going in the second quarter, with Brayden Batiste rushing for a first down and connecting twice with Caleb Jones. But El Campo held in its own end to preserve the first-half shutout.
The Ricebirds extended their lead with a time-consuming drive, both in clock time and actual time due in part to officials’ timeouts. Two pass interference penalties, one a deflating one on fourth down for the Spartans, aided El Campo as Owens scored his second touchdown with 1:37 remaining in the half.
Stafford gave the Ricebirds an opportunity for more, mishandling the ensuing kickoff. El Campo took advantage as Nathaniel Hernandez’s 7-yard touchdown catch from Isaiah Anderson produced a 28-0 halftime lead.
Owens’ third-quarter runs turned the game into a rout.
“We hit two draws for big plays for touchdowns,” Worrell said. “That’s something we’ve been working on all year; we just haven’t ran. We felt like the situation called for it there. We had some plays, some big catches. DK Ward had two big catches. They were both probably pass interferences, but making the catch anyway you get more yards out of it.”
The Ricebirds were effective stacking the box and staying aggressive on defense, not yielding the shutout until 2:03 remaining in the third when Caleb Jones scored on a 14-yard keeper.
El Campo controlled the ball much of the final quarter, closing an impressive district opener. The Ricebirds host Brazosport on Oct. 15.
“We like where we’re at, especially the last two and half games,” Worrell said. “We started to hit our stride at halftime of the Wharton game, kind of carried over to the Champion game. You always worry about losing momentum going into the bye week, so to be able to come out tonight in the first district game on the road against a quality team like Stafford has, it’s a big win for us.”
Stafford visits Needville on Oct. 15 in a key district game between 2020 postseason qualifiers.