Last Friday, October 10th, 2014, Jesuit’s Varsity took on Irving High School, having the home field advantage on a drizzling Dallas night. Jesuit, coming off of a loss to Skyline, rebounded admirably with a 56-29 victory over Irving. Head Coach Brandon Hickman believed that the team “bounced back very well” after such a tough loss. Attempting to respond to previous failures, the Rangers focused on “playing good defense for all four quarters,” giving them the defensive edge against Irving.
The first quarter started off slowly for both teams, with Jesuit committing a fumble on their first drive and Irving turning the ball over on downs deep in Jesuit territory on the third yard line. Coming off of a huge defensive stop on a fourth and goal play, the Jesuit offense validated the defensive efforts with a 97 yard touch down coming from a pass to Matt Miller ’15. The Rangers failed to convert though, netting only 6 points after a blocked extra point by Irving. Not to be outdone, Irving replied with an even longer touchdown, scoring off of an astounding 99 yard kick return. Unshaken, Jesuit quarterback Bo Schneider ’15 found Charlie Eikenberg ’15 for a Jesuit TD. Following the play, Jesuit redeemed themselves with a 2 point conversion to put them up 14-7.
Starting out on top in the second quarter, the Rangers managed to continue their offensive onslaught on their first drive with a touchdown run from Matthew Slovak ’15. They then scored yet another touchdown before Irving could respond with one of their own. Jesuit continued to fight with Irving, and ended the 1st half 28-14.
To open the half, Irving scored after a 72 yard pass, which gave them great field position. In an attempt to give themselves the edge, Irving attempted a 2 point conversion but failed. Like clockwork, the Rangers game back on a 12-play scoring drive of their own. To finish out the drive, Schneider threw a beautiful fade to Peter Lynch ’15 for the touchdown. Irving refused to give up though, and responded with another touchdown in an attempt to stop Jesuit’s momentum.
The Rangers showed no signs of stopping in the fourth quarter and went on a 14-0 run to close out the game 56-29.
In the second half, Coach Hickman felt that the team “played well defensively.” Overall, Coach was happy with the outcome of the game and felt that “as a whole we played well, but can still improve on starting faster defensively and taking care of the football.”
This coming Friday, Jesuit takes on Nimitz at Postell stadium, so come out and support your Rangers.