Tough night for the Howard County teams
It was a tough final week of regular season football for all three of our local teams as they all were on the losing end. Forsan suffered its first loss of the year to a very game team from Hawley, losing a close battle 21-24. Next, big Spring gets upset in San Angelo, losing to Lakeview 49-35. Finally, the Coahoma Bulldogs fell to Abernathy 49-14. While it was a long night for the three teams, the season will continue for both Forsan and the Steers. The Coahoma Bulldogs battled hard all year long, but they played their last game of the year tonight.
The atmosphere in Forsan was that of a playoff game. Both teams came into this matchup undefeated at 9-0. This game would be for the #1 seed heading into the playoffs, and more importantly, the district championship.
The stands were packed in Forsan to watch two undefeated teams go at it for the district championship. Hawley received the opening kickoff and wasted no time showing why they were one of the top teams in 2A. They worked the ball down the field and put up the first touchdown of the night on a 13-yard pass. With 8:55 left in the first quarter of play, Hawley had an early lead. After the quick score from Hawley, the Forsan buffalos had their shot with the ball. The Buffs did what they do they started to pound the ball against this defense. Forsan ran the ball right down the field, converting two fourths and ones. Then, major Stockton broke free on a beautiful 52yard touchdown run, tying this game at 7 to 7. With 4:35 left in the first quarter, we had a game. Once Hawley got the ball back much like the drive before, they moved right down the field. They were able to get inside the red zone and scored on a 4-yard touchdown pass. The score made it a 14 to 7 lead for the Bearcats with 2:10 left in the first quarter.
The Buffs trailed after the first quarter of football in what was already proving to be the game of the week. To start the second quarter, the Bearcats were again driving down the field when the Forsan defense made a huge interception to give them the ball back with an excellent return to set the Buffs up at the Bearcat 30 yard line. Forsan wasted little time capitalizing on the significant turnover as they scored when sawyer Stallings found Cayden Morgan from 12 yards out for the game-tying touchdown making this a 14-14 game with 9:04 left play in the first half. On Hawley's third drive of the game, it was more of the same from this very potent offense. They moved the ball right down the field and eventually, on a fourth and goal from the 13, went for it and hit a 13-yard touchdown pass to give Hawley the lead once again at 21 to 14 with 4:25 left to play in the second quarter. Finding themselves down again, Forsan knew it needed to answer before halftime. Forsan started driving down the field using a nice mix of the run game with some new pass game wrinkles. Forsan got the ball into the red zone but had a massive fumble as it looked as though they might tie this game. The fumble occurred on the 19-yard line, giving the Bearcats the ball with 19 seconds left in the second quarter. Hawley did not play it safe they made two big plays, and instantly they moved into field goal range. With six seconds left before halftime, the Bearcat kicker hit from 41 yards out to make this a 24-14 lead at halftime.
As the second half of this game began, it became clear that both of these teams were 9-0. The Buffs received the second-half kickoff and went right to work with their run game. They pounded the ball mercilessly at the Hawley defense, moving the ball down the field with ease. The Buffs had one of their patented long sustaining drives chewing up the clock. The drive stalled inside the ten-yard line, so the Buffs decide3d to go for the field goal to make this a sevenpoint game. Unfortunately, the Buffs missed a blocking assignment, and the field goal was blocked, swinging the momentum back to Hawley. Both defenses played well for the rest of the third quarter as the score stayed locked at 24-14 after three-quarters of play.
Here we were, Hawley with a 24-14 point lead with 12 minutes to go to decide the district champion. The fourth quarter began with the buffs needing a score to get back into this game. Forsan was driving the ball down the field when the Bearcats got a colossal interception to once again stop a Buff drive right in its tracks. The Buffs defense answered right back; knowing they could not allow Hawley to score again, they forced a Bearcat punt. Forsan repaid the favor of the blocked field goal with a nice blocked punt of their own, changing the momentum once again. The blocked punt gave Forsan excellent field position as they started at the 50-yard line. With 8:12 to go in the game, Forsan needed to score and do it quickly. The Buffs got straight to work mixing up the play, calling keeping the Bearcat defense off balance. They got inside the Bearcat ten-yard line and eventually punched the ball in from a yard out, making this a three-point game at 2124 with 7:04 left in the game. The Buffaloes were right back in this game and just needed this defense who had not allowed a point the whole second quarter to make another big stand. That is precisely what they did as Hawley started to move the ball down the field and looked as though they might go in for a score; Forsan intercepted another Bearcat pass in the end zone, giving the ball back to the Buffs and making the packed crowd go crazy. Forsan now had the ball and the momentum, but this Hawley defense stood firm again, forcing the Buffs to turn their ball over on downs with 3:23 left in the game. What was once an offensive battle in the first quarter was now a pure knock-em-out drag-out defensive struggle. Forsan had to have another big stand from its defense to have a shot at this game. Hawley wanted to control the clock and run the time out, so they decided to pound the ball; Forsan wasn't having it as this Buffs defense did what it has done all season long and stood firm again. The Buffs got the Bearcats huge fourth and seven and could force a turnover on downs giving Forsan one final shot at this game. The Buffs had all they could ask for. They had the ball at their own 12-yard line 2:06 left in the game with no timeouts. Unfortunately, tonight just wasn't the Buff's night as they threw a gameending interception sealing the victory for the Hawley Bearcats.
This was a battle from start to finish, I know it wasn't the way we wanted the game to turn out, but the way this Buff team played tonight was terrific. They showed they deserve that top ten rankings. It was the first loss of the season for the buffs, but they will still go into the playoffs playing great football and with a #2 seed.
Now for the Big Spring Steers, their game also had seeding implications. Big Spring was already guaranteed a playoff spot; it was just a matter of what seed they could potentially get. They could get that number one seed, or they could be the number four seed. Well, Steer fans, this just wasn't a good night for Big Spring as they got upset on the road to a San Angelo Lakeview team. I was not at this game in person, so I can't tell you what happened, but I will say that we still get a chance to continue the season. I believe this team will bounce back in a big way. But, listen, bad games happen better to get it out of the way now than next week. So, I will watch the game film on Saturday and have a complete write-up of the game in Monday's paper.
While this might not have been the best night of football for the three local Howard County teams, it will be ok. Forsan is still one of the best teams in the entire state, and they will have a chance to prove that. The Steers will regroup and come out playing hard next week. When I do the write-up for Monday's paper, I will let you know who and where Forsan and the Steers will be playing; until then, have a safe weekend, and remember to turn those clocks back this weekend.