Big Spring JV & 9th grade both fall big to visiting Canyon Eagles on Thursday
The Big Spring Steers 9th Grade and JV teams had a tough time against the visiting Canyon Eagles on Thursday night at Memorial Stadium. Both games were filled with high-scoring first halves from the Eagles and the Steer freshmen (32-8) and JV (30-0) started off their 2020 season’s with a pair of losses.
In the 9th Grade game, the Steers received the opening kickoff but were unable to do much with their opening possession. Canyon, on the other hand, ran five plays (that included a 30-yard rush) before their bulldozing running back was able to put together a powerful 14-yard touchdown run off of right tackle. The extra point was a replica of the touchdown play and the Canyon Eagles jumped out to an early 8-0 lead over the Steers.
Even though Big Spring quarterback Gavin Padron was making impressive and accurate throws all night long, the Steer offense had trouble consistently moving the ball and his receivers were having a very hard time with dropped passes. There
Any worries Coahoma Head Volleyball Coach Jamie Bonner may have had about her team being out of practice after two weeks off from competition were put to rest Tuesday night.
The Bulldoggetes played like a well-oiled machine beating San Angelo TLCA in three sets — 2519, 25-23, 25-15.
“I talked to them about being off,” Bonner said. “I told them we can’t let not having a game or two or three games stall us with what we want to achieve. They responded really well.
“The overall leadership from our seniors was a major factor in our win tonight,” she continued.”They kept us going and kept the momentum going on our side. The overall athleticism shown by this team, their all-out heart and hustle by all of our kids, is making the difference.”
Both teams played a hard-hitting, physically aggressive game for the first two sets. All evening the Bulldogettes were hawkish in blocking or chasing down attack shots with one thing in mind. Keep the ball alive.
Coahoma took an early lead in all three sets although the Lady Eagles stayed in the game keeping the score close in the first two matches. By the third set, the Bulldogettes built up a 10-point advantage by the time the Lady Eagles began a second-half rally. Coahoma ended the match earning three points in a row with Christian Everett serving.
Everett had one ace for the evening. MaKynlee Overton led the Bulldogettes with seven kills, four blocks, and five digs. Julia Cox had six kills and Zoie Joslin had 19 assists.
Since returning to the court this after sitting out last season because of an injury, Ashley Romero has been an all-around player for the Bulldogettes.
“Since day one when she set were also a ton of penalties called in the game and one directly contributed to the second Canyon score.
Right before the end of the first quarter, Canyon received the ball in good field position after a skyhigh punt by the Steers did not travel down field at all. Then, an illegal hands to the face penalty on the defense gave the Eagles even better field position. Just a few seconds into the second quarter, a second Canyon running back found the end zone when he charged in from the one-yard line. The impressive Canyon quarterback scampered out to the right on the two-point conversion and, just like that, the Steers were facing a 16-0 first half deficit.
The next time Canyon had the ball, they were steadily moving the ball when they decided to take a deep shot. The Canyon quarterback found a speedy wide receiver all the way behind the defense running up the right sideline who he was
Courtesy Photo foot on the court this year, she has worked her tail off,” Bonner said. “She played extremely well tonight. She showed out for us — getting her hands on the ball, bocking for us. She was an all around player tonight. She did a phenomenal job.”
Romero, who had five kills and three blocks for the game, said she was just glad to be back on the court.
“I love being part of my team,” she said. “I love how we are working together and I missed the excitement.”
And she is hoping to cap off her senior year with a long season.
“How we are playing and how we are playing as a family, it feels amazing,” she said. “That is how every team should play - as a family. We all have fun both in practice and on the court.”
Now the Bulldogettes will turn their eyes south towards Grape Creek on Saturday for a rematch against the Lady Eagles, who gave Coahoma its only loss of the season.
“Last time, they did a lot of tipping,” Bonner said. “We are going to do a lot of tip coverage for the rest of the week in practice. We are used to teams that constantly hit the ball. Grape Creek saw that was a weakness of ours, so they tipped a lot. We also didn’t play our best offense when we played them last. I told them let’s celebrate this win, but our focus is on Saturday.”
JV Bulldogettes vs TLCA: White lost in two sets: 17-25, 12-25. Red lost in three: 16-25, 25-21, 23-25.
Next: Coahoma (5-1) at Grape Creek on Saturday. JV White plays at 10 a.m. followed by JV Red at 11 p.m. The varsity game begins at noon. Tickets must be purchased in advance. Ticket sales are at https://www. grapecreekisd.net/apps/pages/ TICKETS able to hit in stride for a 57-yard touchdown. The Eagles repeated their previous twopoint conversion play (a rollout to the right by their quarterback) and it once again worked. The Eagles led 24-0 with just under three minutes to go in the first half.
Big Spring went three-and-out on their next drive and an intentional grounding call on fourth down after a bad long snap gave the Canyon Eagles tremendous field position. Two plays later, Canyon’s quarterback followed the lead of his two-point attempts and powered his way into the end zone from nine yards out. The two-point conversion was a successful fade pass to the right corner of the end zone and the Eagles took a commanding 32-0 lead into halftime.
There was no scoring in the third quarter and Canyon decided to put their backups in for the final quarter of the game. On one drive in the fourth, Padron was able to find one of his receivers who made a terrific diving catch in the end zone. The two-point conversion attempt was a Tebow-esque jump pass and the Steers finally got on the board, trailing 32-8.
The remainder of the game was mostly Canyon running out the clock on their way to a 32-8 victory over the Steers in Big Spring’s first game of the season.
Next up was the Junior Varsity, and things did not go much better for them on Thursday night.
Canyon was able to score first on their second possession of the game when their running back gashed the Big Spring defense for a 17-yard untouched touchdown run straight up the gut. The same running back ran up the middle for the twopoint conversion and the Eagles found themselves with an early 8-0 lead.
Big Spring was having a lot of trouble moving the ball on offense and quickly gave the ball back to Canyon following a three-and-out.
The Eagles next drive was filled with penalties and even a Big Spring sack. However, they were able to convert on a 4th-and-15 by gaining 16 yards and scored on a 5-yard rollout pass on the very next play.