Football Ends Season with Three Blowout Wins over JJ Pearce, Sunset, and Richardson; Playoffs Ahead

With the change of seasons outside as the air begins to cool and the leaves begin to change color, football season begins to wind down concomitantly.  Rather, the regular season does.  With playoffs in the air and goals to attain, the football team finished the season out with three straight convincing wins to punch a ticket to the Bi-District round of 5A-II playoffs.

October 26, 2012 – JJ Pearce

After only the second loss of the season against Lake Highlands, Jesuit was at 1-2 in District 9-5A play.  In a must win game against the JJ Pearce Mustangs at Eagle/Mustang Stadium, Jesuit stormed out of the gate with much needed intensity and a dominant attitude.

Jesuit struck easily and often as the 1^st Quarter seemed to put JJ Pearce, Coach Brandon Hickman and Coach Jonathan Short’s former stomping grounds, out of the game almost immediately.  The offense went uncontested all night. QB Jack Brezette ’13 opened up the scoring barrage with a 13 yard touchdown pass to WR Jake Oliver ’13.  WR/DB Orion Salter ’14 scored two touchdowns on the ground in the 1^st Quarter as the defense, steered by the play of LB Caleb Kunasek ’13 and LB Jordan Mastrogiovanni ’13, allowed no breathing room for the Mustangs.

The 2^nd Quarter was no different from the first as Brezette found Salters on the quick slant and Salters went untouched 38 yards into the end zone.  Oliver also made a spectacular sliding snag on the goal line to propel Jesuit to a five touchdown lead going into halftime.

During the halftime break, the foot was not taken off the pedal as coaches focused on “nailing the coffin shut.”

Looking to put the game out of reach for good, Orion Salters and the Jesuit running game rolled down field in the 3^rd Quarter.  Salters scored his fourth touchdown of the evening on a 20 yard rush.  Minutes later, K Cody Wicker ’13 put the score a 45-0 with a 47 yard field goal right down the pipe.

Finally in the 4^th Quarter, WR Trey Vinzant caught a pass from QB Carter Brown for JJ Pearce’s first points – an effort than came far too late for the Mustangs.

The Jesuit offense racked up 448 yards while the defense only allowed 173 yards.

After the game, Coach Brandon Hickman told his players, “I’m proud of the way we bounced back – the way we came out after halftime in the 3^rd Quarter really put [JJ Pearce] away.”

DE Erik Eppig ’13 added that “Coming back strong after our loss to LH was our main goal, and we achieved exactly that.”

FINAL: Jesuit 45, JJ Pearce 7

Leaders for the game:

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

November 2, 2012 – Sunset

Homecoming is one of the biggest days of the year at Texas high schools.  With football games, pep rallies, and giant mums with teddy bears, Homecoming truly embodies the spirit and joy of high school.  This holds true at Jesuit.  After a rowdy, entertaining day of activities and games at Ranger Day, the football team looked to take care of business against the Sunset Bison.

Sunset came into the affair 0-8 on the season, looking for a little confidence boost and just to have some fun.  Jesuit, after bouncing back against JJ Pearce, was in no mindset to let any team even try to stop them.

Touchdowns rained down all night as eight different Rangers made their way to the end zone.   From the first whistle, Jesuit dominated left and right, and Sunset found no magic to make anything happen.  On the third play, WR/DB Orion Salters ’14 galloped 43 yards for a touchdown.  The next Sunset drive was quickly ended as CB Carson Buell ’13 made a sensational interception right in front of the Sunset staff.  QB Jack Brezette ’13 on the ensuing drive connected with WR Jake Oliver ’13, the team’s leading receiver, for his only catch of the night – an 18-yard touchdown at that.  Jesuit scored two more touchdowns in the 1^st Quarter on a WR Taylor Tibbits ’13 catch and a RB Preston Young ’13 run.

Before action began in the 2^nd Quarter, all the game’s starters were benched for the remainder of the game – with Oliver and Tibbits taking over control of offensive signs for WR Aidan Johnston ’13 and WR Davis Bittner ’13.  In the 2^nd Quarter, WR Daniel Valencia ’13 snagged his first touchdown of the year and WR Garrett Amy ’15 ran for a 15-yard touchdown, his first of the year as well.  In addition, for the first time in six games, a Sunset player made it into the end zone with the football when LB Anthony Cruz almost instinctively jumped a pass and picked it off for a 35-yard pick-six – a play that had even Jesuit fans clapping and cheering.  To close out the first half, QB Joe Willie Laufenberg ’13 pounded in a 9-yard score to put Jesuit up 49-6 going into the break.

At halftime, players and coaches were both excited and pleased, but ready to come out and finish the game until the scoreboard read 0:00.

Jesuit opened up the 3^rd Quarter with the ball, and the scoring continued.  After a 70-yard, 7-minute drive, Johnston scored on a 6-yard touchdown, following the lead blocking of Young, WR Drew Highlander ’13, and RT Trey Elliot ’14.

In the 4^th Quarter, Jesuit continued to score – not to run up the score, but instead just because it happened.  Amy made use of two carries for two touchdowns, on 72 and 45 yard scampers.  He finished the night with 3 carries for 3 touchdowns and nearly 150 yards.

After the game, Coach Brandon Hickman noted that, he has “a lot of respect for that team, because when you get to 0-8, 0-9, it become hard to stay committed.  But those players do and look like they still have fun doing it.”

Bittner added that he “loved getting to play almost the entire game because usually the starters stay in almost all night.”  Coach Charlie DeLong added that “it’s great to see all the players play because everyone works really hard and deserves their moment in the spotlight.”

In the end, Jesuit put on a spectacle Homecoming Night, and it was a great exhibit for alumni and students to indulge in.

FINAL: Jesuit 68, Sunset 6

Leaders for the game:

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

November 9, 2012 – Richardson

The regular season was coming to an end, but Jesuit football was going to keep on chugging.  A week after clinching a playoff berth against Sunset, Jesuit took on the Richardson High School Eagles in the very same stadium they played in two weeks prior.

Richardson (4-5 coming into the night) proved to be stiffer competition than the two weeks before; however, Jesuit was still able to handle their ground game, the area’s best.  For a team that average over 300 yards on the ground a game, Richardson was pretty much bottled up by the Rangers.

In the 1^st Quarter, scoring started quick, as WR/DB Orion Salters ’13 caught a 46-yard pass from QB Jack Brezette ’13 only half a minute into the contest.  The next two drives saw WR Jake Oliver ’13 catch two touchdowns as well, from 57 and 37 yards respectively.  Richardson was able to muster up some offense on the next drive as RB Devante Branch found pay dirt on a 6-yard run.  10 seconds later, a fumble by RB Will Brown ’13 and an impressive scoop-and-score by LB Josue Kazangue put Richardson down by only seven points, despite a poor start to the game.

Nonetheless, the Ranger offense went back to work in the 2^nd Quarter, as Brown and Salters added touchdowns of their own.  K Cody Wicker ’13 also added a field goal.  For Richardson, K Andrew Buckmeier and RB Cameron Booty scored a field goal and a touchdown to put the score at 38-24, Jesuit ahead, at halftime.

During half, Rangers got off their feet, and Strength and Conditioning Coach Jeremy Weeks stretched out players and made sure they recovered with much needed electrolytes and Gatorade.

In the 3^rd Quarter, Richardson added points first as Buckmeier booted a 27-yard field goal.  Jesuit, however, bounced back as Salters scored his fourth touchdown of the game, and Brezette scrambled for an impressive 9-yard touchdown, the first of his season.

As the 4^th Quarter emerged, Jesuit was in control of the game, and WR Taylor Tibbits ’13 caught a touchdown for the second straight week – would’ve been three if not for a called back touchdown against JJ Pearce though.  With two minutes left in the game, Branch added one more score for the Eagles, who consequently fell to the Rangers on their Senior Night.

After the game, a proud Coach Hickman declared, “It’s time for playoffs boys!”  With a good game under their belt, Jesuit players were excited and ready for the next week.  LT Jacob Keeley added, “I think we can make it really far if we play like we did [against Richardson].  We played lights out for four quarters.”

The Rangers ended the regular season at (8-2; 5-2 in 9-5A)

FINAL: Jesuit 59, Richardson 33

Leaders for the game:

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

The Rangers will take on the McKinney Boyd Mustangs on Friday November 16 in the first round of 5A-II Playoffs.  Come out to Plano-Clark Stadium at 7:30 to cheer them on!