Bison delight Homecoming fans by defeating Wortham Bulldogs

Jordan Canady spins free of a tackler on the quarterback keeper. Van’Go’photo The Buffalo Bison bumped their season record to 3-1 with a Homecoming win over a talented team from Wortham.

Buffalo won the toss and elected to receive, but Wortham managed to recover their on-side kick and would soon capitalize on the early break. After the first three plays, with Dylan Ansley leading the charge, the Bison defense had WHS syopped short of a first down. The 'Dogs successfully turned a fake kick on the punt into first down yardage and went on to drive in for the opening touchdown at 5:18 in the first quarter. Their PAT kick was no good.

Dakota Champion returned the kickoff to the Buffalo 38, where the Bison began to rack up first downs. Jose Dominguez ran for one, Aurelio Dominguez fought hard for the next, and QB Jordan Canady picked up the next on the keeper. Aurelio Dominguez scored from 11 yards out to tie the game and Rigo Andrade nailed his kick to put the Bison up 7-6 with 2:27 left in the first period.

BJHS sixth grader Brittany Scott demonstrates her plentiful school spirit. Van’Go’photo On the ‘Dogs next series, Bison defenders Daniel Vazquez and Dakota Champion had big stops, but WHS still managed to roll up three first downs before turning the ball over on a fumble. Aaron Bell came up with the ball for BHS and the Bison began a drive at their own 28-yard-line.

The Bison mounted a steady drive to the endzone with Canady scrambling and A. Dominguez and J. Dominguez both charging straight up the middle for good yardage. Bell refused to go down and spun his way to the 3-yard line, where Aurelio Dominguez punched it in. Andrade split the uprights with his PAT kick and BHS took a 14-6 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Wortham received the opening kickoff of the third quarter, and connected on a beautiful thirdand long pass just out of the reach of defender Aaron Bell to score. On the PAT attempt, Bell came up with a big tackle to deny the ‘Dogs two points.

The Bison stayed with the ground game on their next drive, and QB Canady had to cross the goal line twice before the Bison posted their next touchdown. A keeper from the 2-yd-line was nullified by a holding call on the Bison, but at 4th-and-1 #1 went in over his right tackle to put BHS on top, 20-12 with 1:59 left in the third quarter. Andrade’s kick slipped just to the outside on the PAT -- -- his first miss of the season.

Buffalo kept their offense on the field in the next series after Ansley ran under the Bison’s short kick and caught the ball in the air. The drive was short-lived, however, as the ball was lost on a fumbled snap, giving Wortham possession deep in their own territory. They picked up two first downs, then a holding call nullified a good run and killed the drive.

Wortham punted to BHS’ Andrew Houston and the Bison started their next drive at their own 39. On the next play #34 found a gap in the defense and Dominguez scored his third TD of the game. Andrade nailed the PAT kick.

The Bulldogs’ next drive was stymied by the Bison defense, with stops by Houston, Jorge Herrera, Ansley, Jacob Rodell, Andrade and Joseph Lewis. A personal foul penalty on the Bison kept the WHS drive alive, however, and the scrambling Bulldog quarterback reversed his field for a TD run, closing the gap to 27-18. The twopoint conversion attempt was stopped by Ryan Read and Saxton Sims.

The Bison offense kept the ball for the final minutes of play and chalked up the victory.

BHS’ offense had rolled up 306 offensive yards, all on the ground, for a rushing average of 8.5 yards/play. Aurelio Dominguez led his teammates with 17 carries for 151 yards and three TDs. Canady had 70 yards in 9 carries and 1 TD. Aaron Bell gained 36 yards on 5 carries, Jose Dominguez 43 yards on 4 carries and Esteban Espinoza picked up 6 yards on his single carry.

The Bison Defense was led by Ansley with 14 Tackles, Andrade with 8, Jared Hawthorne and Jacob Rodell with 7 each and Bell with 6.

This week the Bison travel to Leon to wrap up their pre-district play. They have an open week on October 2 and start district copetition hosting Corrigan-Camden on October 9th.