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10A WISE COUNTY MESSENGER, Decatur, Texas, Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Yellowjackets hunt for playoff spot
By CLAY CORBETT
After a week off, the Boyd
Yellowjackets are ready to get
back on track and stay in contention
for a playoff spot.
A loss to Callisburg knocked
Boyd out of the top spot in the
District 5-2A Division I standings,
but they still find themselves
in great shape with
three games to play.
Boyd (4-3, 2-1) hosts the
Ponder Lions (2-6, 0-4) Friday
at Yellowjacket Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
“They changed their offense
after their bye week,” Boyd
coach Brandon Hopkins said
about Callisburg. “They came
FOOTBALL
out in an unbalanced wishbone
set, which they hadn’t
run all year.”
The move paid off for the
Wildcats and Boyd headed
into the bye week to prepare
for Ponder with a loss.
“We worked on some fundamentals
and started getting
ready for Ponder,” Hopkins
said. “Also it gave us a chance
to get some guys healthy.”
One of those players was
running back Fino Cardona
who suffered a hip pointer
during the Callisburg game.
Cardona’s absence forced
Boyd to go to the air much
more than usual.
Cardona leads Wise County
in rushing with 1,095
yards and 19 touchdowns.
Ponder is coming off a 43-
41, double-overtime loss to
Callisburg, who beat Boyd
48-46. The Lions have also
dropped district games to Pilot
Point, Bowie and Whitesboro.
“Their quarterback is big,
strong and can chunk it,”
Hopkins said.
Boyd can’t allow another
setback if they want to stay
near the top of the playoff
race.
“We need to win two of the
next three to give us a good
chance for the playoffs,” Hopkins
said. “We just have to
NORTH TEXAS
SPORTS
MEDICINE
2800 S. FM 51, Ste. B • Decatur
940-627-7532
Ponder (2-6, 0-4) at Boyd
(4-3, 2-1)
7:30 p.m.
at Yellowjacket Stadium
Boyd: Harris Rating 203
Notable: The Yellowjackets
are running for 215 yards per
game.
Ponder: Harris Rating 185
Notable: The Lions lost in double-overtime
to Callisburg last
week, 43-41.
Harris line: Boyd by 21
take care of business, because
anybody can beat anybody in
this district.”
WEEK SEVEN AREA LEADERS
Rushing
Rushing Yards TD
Fino Cardona, Boyd 150 1,095 19
Gabe Huerta, Bridgeport 129 866 11
Levi Rust, Decatur 113 620 5
Dakota Chavis, Northwest 118 581 6
Joe Randall, Alvord 71 561 6
Grayson Muehlstein, 92 519 5
Decatur
Dylan Hightower, Chico 42 470 5
Passing
Comp. Att. Int. Yds. TD
Hunter York, Chico 140 212 5 1,819 23
Grayson Muehlstein, 80 152 8 1,176 13
Decatur
Draze Lawliss, Northwest 74 128 4 1,050 10
Tanner Valentine, Paradise 82 254 11 913 8
Blake McDonald, Boyd 52 90 4 764 7
Trey Cook, Bridgeport 60 113 8 553 3
Hunter Gantt, Bridgeport 17 36 2 256 3
Messenger photo by Mack Thweatt • Buy reprints at wcmessenger.com/reprints
HOLDING ON — Alvord’s Benni Browne holds on for a tackle.
District win ...
Continued from page 12A
job and missing blocking assignments.
We finally settled down in the second
half.”
Despite the lopsided score, the Bulldogs
had a nice game on the ground accumulating
251 yards. Joe Randall and
Casen Baker combined for 187 of that.
Quarterback Cassidy Patterson had
some nice passes after Jordan Locklear
moved to tight end.
Jacksboro is riding a five-game winning
streak. They have district wins
over City View and Henrietta. Their
Texans focus ...
ontinued from page 12A
early,” Northwest coach
Bill Patterson said. “We
had some chances early
and couldn’t connect.
Southlake doesn’t get a lot
of credit for their defense,
but it is really good.”
Patterson said the Texans
moved on quickly from
the Southlake setback and
started turning all their
attention to Timber Creek
early Saturday morning.
“We’ve got to win this
game to keep control of our
own destiny,” Patterson
said.
Northwest will have the
task of trying to slow a
very potent Falcon rushing
attack.
Cale Davis leads Timber
Creek in rushing with 555
yards and two other backs
have more than 300. The
team averages 185 on the
ground.
“They run the ball very
well,” Patterson said. “We
have to be solid up front
defensively.”
The Falcons have dropped
league games to Southlake
Carroll and Keller Central.
They defeated Haltom, and
their latest victory was a
Chico’s postseason ...
Continued from page 12A
the easier start to the district
schedule, already getting
wins against Trenton
and Blue Ridge.
“They [Collinsville] are
a good football team,” Chico
coach Stephen Carter
said. “We match-up pretty
well with them. It should
be a good game.”
The Pirates are led by
dual-threat quarterback
John Lewis. He has already
rushed for 1,080
yards this season and
thrown for 448.
Chico has the hard part
of their district schedule
only loss came to Eastland in week one.
The Tigers are averaging 34 points per
game.
“They have good size and good speed,”
Enis said about Jacksboro. “They will
spread it out and throw it all over the
yard.”
Enis just wants his troops to ride the
momentum they built in the second half
against Holliday.
“We just need to do what we are
coached to do,” Enis said. “We just aren’t
taking things from practice to the game.
We finally started turning that around
in the second half against Holliday.”
behind them with two of
the more difficult teams,
Lindsay and Valley View
out of the way. Even
though both games were
losses, the Dragon still
control their own destiny.
Carter says his kids understand
the magnitude of
this game, and they need
to get rid of some mistakes
if they are going to be successful.
“We’ve got to eliminate
penalties,” Carter said.
“We moved the ball, but
we didn’t capitalize. We
need more consistency on
offense and to finish off
drives.”
20-6 thumping of Richland.
A win by the Texans
would allow them to keep
Not too ...
Continued from page 12A
Callisburg’s potent rushing attack
is led by quarterback Clay McKenzie,
who has already rushed for 1,051
yards this season. Running back Dakota
Tinney has rushed for 435.
The Wildcats are one of four teams
in District 5-2A Division I with only
one loss heading into week eight.
The others are Whitesboro, Boyd
and Pilot Point.
Paradise will have to get their offense
back on track after committing
four turnovers and only managing
162 total yards against Pilot Point.
Defensively the Panthers had
trouble stopping the run against the
Bearcats, allowing 254 yards on the
ground.
328 Schoolhouse Rd. • Paradise
940-969-3680
Paradise (0-7, 0-3) at Callisburg (6-
1, 2-1)
7:30 p.m.
at Wildcat Stadium
Paradise: Harris Rating 178
Notable: The Panthers only had 73 rushing
yards against Pilot Point last week.
Callisburg: Harris Rating 203
Notable: The Wildcats have won their
last two games against Boyd and Ponder
by a combined four points.
Harris line: Callisburg by 28
control of their own destiny
for second place in District
4-5A.
Messenger’s Weekly Pick’em
DECATUR
Receiving
Rec Yards TD
Matt Carter, Chico 42 615 7
Dylan Hightower, Chico 26 508 6
Cain Lowe, Decatur 26 424 5
Blake Arrington, Bridgeport 26 376 4
Cole Meador, Boyd 20 319 2
Dylan Stubbe, Northwest 18 317 2
Chris Gilmore, Chico 19 292 4
Emmanuel Moore,
Northwest
25 283 3
Rushing Offense
Team
Yards/Avg.
Decatur 255
Boyd 215
Alvord 170
Northwest 168
Bridgeport 166
Chico 151
Paradise 96
Passing Offense
Team
Yards/Avg.
Chico 305
Decatur 156
Northwest 150
Boyd 137
Paradise 130
Bridgeport 116
Alvord 37
Total Offense
Team
Yards/Avg.
Chico 456
Decatur 411
Boyd 353
Northwest 318
Bridgeport 282
Paradise 230
Alvord 225
Rushing Defense
Team
Yards/Avg.
Northwest 136
Chico 190
Decatur 205
Alvord 234
Bridgeport 257
Boyd 265
Paradise 263
Passing Defense
Team
Yards/Avg.
Chico 58
Boyd 90
Paradise 105
Alvord 126
Northwest 129
Bridgeport 155
Decatur 160
Total Defense
Team
Yards/Avg.
Chico 248
Northwest 266
Boyd 329
Alvord 368
Decatur 370
Paradise 385
Bridgeport 412
ROTTNER CORBETT KNOX GREENE EVANS
North Texas Bank Sports Editor Editorial Pilot Point Editor Editorial
Decatur at Bridgeport Decatur Bridgeport Decatur Decatur Bridgeport
Ponder at Boyd Boyd Boyd Boyd Boyd Boyd
Paradise at Callisburg Callisburg Callisburg Callisburg Callisburg Callisburg
Alvord at Jacksboro Jacksboro Jacksboro Jacksboro Jacksboro Jacksboro
Collinsville at Chico Collinsville Chico Chico Collinsville Collinsville
Timbercreek at Northwest Northwest Northwest Northwest Northwest Northwest
Texas Tech at Kansas St. Kansas St. Kansas St. Kansas St. Kansas St. Kansas St.
TCU at Oklahoma St. OSU TCU OSU TCU OSU
Notre Dame at Oklahoma Notre Dame Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma
Texas A&M at Auburn Texas A&M Texas A&M Auburn Texas A&M Auburn
Mississippi St. at Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama
NY Giants at Dallas Dallas NY Giants NY Giants NY Giants NY Giants
WEEK 10-2 12-0 9-3 11-1 8-4
OVERALL 67-28 78-17 60-35 73-22 68-27
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