The Coahoma Bulldogs season comes to end after loss to Abernathy
COAHOMA - The Abernathy Antelopes rolled into the playoffs and a rebuilding Coahoma Bulldogs team's season came to a merciful end Friday night at Bill Easterling Memorial Stadium as the Antelopes dominated the Bulldogs 49-14.
The outcome of the game was never in jeopardy as the No. 10 ranked Antelopes jumped on the Bulldogs early. By halftime Abernathy led 35-7. Abernathy definitely had something to play for, with an Idalou win over Lubbock Roosevelt Friday night, it would throw the District 4-3A race into a three-way tie for first. It didn't happen however as Roosevelt defeated Idalou 34-21.
Meanwhile Coahoma held a slimmer of hope of getting into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, providing it could've beaten Abernathy and Reagan County could beat Stanton. That didn't happen either. Stanton beat Reagan County 24-0.
It was a growing process for coach Chris Joslin's Bulldogs. They finished the season with a 3-7 overall record and 1-4 in league play. Abernathy advances to the playoffs with a 9-1 mark, it's only loss was to Roosevelt .
One can't accuse the Bulldogs of having an easy schedule. Five of its opponents were ranked in the top 10, three from the district, Idalou, Roosevelt and Abernathy. Throw in Forsan and Eldorado from Class 2A and that's a killer schedule.
Coahoma's youth told off in the offensive and defensive lines. They'll lose consistent performers likes Kobe Cervantes and look for the likes of Bryan Martinez, Braiden Boaz and Nick Gonzales all to step us next season. Nick Tuttle and Shane White will play into that mi also.
Coahoma's youthfulness showed against the good teams. Idalou and Roosevelt bashed the defense for 389 and 457 yards rushing respectively. Eldorado threw for 396 yards against them.
Coahoma defended fairly well in the air, allowing a 104 yards passing per game. Billy Starr and Austin Perkins got three interceptions each.
Offensively the Bulldogs were not bad, averaging 253 yards on the ground and 127 in the air. The key loss is all-state running back Brysen Kerby who had his second consecutive 1,000 yard season. They were tough yards, not many long gainers. Coahoma does has two good running backs returning however. Freshman Jaidyn Vineyard and junior Isaiah Esleda combined for more than 800 yards.
Sophomore quarterback Billy Bailey earned his stripes this season. He constantly got better during the season. He finished completing 57 percent of his passes. Bailey will have a i big play guy to go in Perkins, who made some big plays this season. He'll be better punter next season, but he was good on offense as well as defense. Several times he made good returns on the special teams to set Coahoma up in good field position. He also averaged 25 yards per catch, tops on the team.
An added weapon is sophomore kicker Reagan Chapman, who was a force that Coahoma really didn't use until the second part of the season. He was consistent on extra points and kicked several field goals, including a 40-yarder.