JV men settle for a kiss-your-sister

Jesus Lopez (#7) leaps and pulls in a pass from Travis Cunningham in a last-minute drive by the JV Bison. Van’Go’photo The JV Bison faced a tough foe in the New Waverly Bulldogs at NWHS last Thursday evening, and the two teams played a Battle Royale that gave fans from both camps plenty to cheer about.

Quarterback Austin Rayborn was sidelined with a broken wrist after a steer wrestling incident at the THSRA rodeo competition on the previous weekend. Happily, Tate Hartley has been released to play after injuries suffered in pre-season, so he was able to step in and lead the team at that position.

NW had the first possession and Dalton Helcamp and Marcus Mata led the Bison defenders in shutting them down quickly. On 4th-and-2 NWHS kicked to Gustavo Montano, who would prove to be a workhorse for the Bison throughout the game. Travis Cunningham picked up a first down, but a penalty flag cut into the Bison's momentum and the Bulldogs took over on downs at their own 39-yard-line.

Cain Hayes (#1) outruns New Waverly defenders. Van’Go’photo The Bison "D" again bowed up, with big stops by Harley Eakin and Montano. After allowing only one first down, they got the ball back but were not able to generate any yardage.

New Waverly got on the board in their next drive with a nice pass and catch for a touchdown. They went to the air again on the PAT attempt, but Keith Carter managed to pick it off and got a 20-yard run back before he was tackled by a Bulldog defender.

Calvin Young got a good return on the ensuing kick-off and the Bison set up at the 32-yard-line, but several stops behind the line of scrimmage soon had David Rodriguez kicking again.

With less than a minute left in the half, New Waverly's quarterback was looking for receivers again, but could not get past Ivan Rivas, Alejandro Montano and Eakin and was repeatedly dropped for negative yardage.

BHS started the second half with a promising drive, but a lost fumble closed that window of opportunity.

The defense stepped up. Cain Hayes, D.J. Young and company held the Bulldogs and put the Bison offense back on the field. Hayes picked up a first down, Cunningham another, then Hayes got another good gain to set up 1st-and-10 at the 14-yardline. The Bulldogs put up a solid wall at that point and took over on downs at their own 4.

The Bison defenders again took charge. On 3rdand 7, a hit squad consisting of Gustavo Montano, Jessy Champion and Marcus Mata ran down the quarterback, knocked the ball loose and recovered for BHS.

Cunningham broke free for a 53-yard gain on the next play. He found his way to the end zone four plays later but a holding call brought the scoring run back. Determined to score, the Bison went to the air with a half-back pass from Cunningham to Jesus Lopez inside the 10-yard-line. Hartley got to the 1 on the quarterback sneak, and Cunningham took it in from there to knot the game at 6-6. On the 2-point attempt Cunningham drove hard to the goal line, where the officials called it short by inches. Three minutes were left on the clock.

The Bison defense held the Bulldogs to three-and-out, with Gustavo Montano busting up a 4th-down pass play. That put the "O" back on the field, and the same half-back pass play was good for anoth- er big gain, setting up a final opportunity with :34 second left in the game but no time outs left. The Bison were closing as time ran out, and they had to settle for a 6-6 tie -- their second of the season.