Early morning rise, the senior skit led by Scoggins, class competitions in the gym, festivities outside, the pep rally, chariot races, a drive home, an afternoon nap, a shower and shave, drive over to his date’s house, pictures, an awkward dinner, and the football game. That was the schedule for the typical Jesuit student this past Friday. The climax being the most important, it featured a highly anticipated matchup of two of the top teams in the district-Dallas Jesuit and JJ Pearce. The winner would break the tie for second place, moving right behind Skyline (ranked ninth in the state), while the loser would fall to a .500 record. And this time it was the Jesuit Rangers who came out on top, crushing the Mustangs 42-19. Let’s take a deeper look into this game.
Starting with the ball, Jesuit was the first to get on the scoreboard as star quarterback Bo Schneider ’15 led the 64 yard touchdown drive. After a few short rushes by Orion Salters ’14, Schneider connected with wide receiver Kellen McAlone ’14 for a 38 yard score. Rangers led 7-0 with 10 minutes left in the first.
The next score happened about four minutes later, but this time it was Gjordan Dumas of the Mustangs who found the end zone. He put Pearce on the board, tying the game at 7 with five or so left in the first.
The Rangers promptly responded on the ensuing drive, as Schneider completed a 51 yard bomb to Salters who took the ball all the way to the Pearce 19 yard line. Four plays and two rushes later, Salters found the end zone and put Jesuit up 14-7 with 3:46 left in the first quarter.
But it wasn’t just the Ranger offense that showed up, the defense came up big with a fumble recovery on JJ Pearce’s following series. However, the offense couldn’t capitalize off this as they turned the ball over on downs toward the end of the first. The Mustangs got the ball and ran it as time expired. The score at the end of the first quarter was 14-7.
JJ Pearce started with the ball in the second quarter and finished their 75 yard drive with a 20 yard chip shot field goal. The Mustangs cut the deficit to four as they trailed Jesuit 14-10 halfway through the second.
After this time-consuming drive, the Rangers countered with yet another touchdown drive. Thanks to a few costly Pearce penalties, Salters was able
to scoot by defenders for a 12 yard rushing touchdown. Schneider helped setup the score after three short passes to Salters, McAlone, and running back Matt Slovak ’15. Jesuit led Pearce 21-10.
The Mustangs couldn’t reciprocate on their next drive and they were forced to punt. Jesuit then capitalized off their inability to score with another touchdown drive. This one was capped off by a huge 71 yard pass to Garret Amy ’15, who was tackled into the end zone. Though whether he broke the plane of the end zone was questionable, the referee confirmed he made it in for the score. This put the Rangers up 28-10 with two minutes left in the half.
Ranger fans were sure that Jesuit would not score for the remainder of the half, and cruise into the locker rooms with a comfortable 18 point lead. After all, Pearce had the ball on their own 15 yard line and looked determined to score. However, defensive end Justin Rotich ’14 shocked everyone when he jumped up and intercepted Hank Hughes’ pass at the line of scrimmage. The unlikely interceptor returned the ball for 15 yards into the end zone and increased the Jesuit lead to 25 points.
That wasn’t even the last turnover of the half for Pearce, as Austin Noland fumbled the ball on the Jesuit 33 yard line. Luckily for him, Jesuit couldn’t capitalize as time expired.
The Rangers had an astonishing 35-10 lead going into the locker rooms, having a stellar homecoming first half. Schneider and Salters were the stars of the first two quarters as each had two touchdowns. The pressure of impressing the Jesuit crowd on homecoming didn’t seem to phase them at all.
In fact, nobody felt any added pressure according to Head Coach Brandon Hickman: “Our guys don’t feel pressure. We approach every game as an opportunity to execute at a high level. It being homecoming just makes it more special because a lot of our alums were there supporting the team. A win always feels good to the players and coaches especially in front of a big crowd, against a good team.”
The Mustangs, disappointed with their first half performance, made a statement with their first series to start the second half, doing so by pounding the ball 88 yards into the end zone. Geoffrey Nwarie rushed the ball five consecutive times on the drive and averaged 11.2 yards per carry on that series alone. He cut the Mustang deficit to 17.
The following two drives by both teams were uneventful as both punted twice in the following six minutes. However, the Mustangs surprised Jesuit with a blocked punt that went out of the end zone for a safety. This, combined with the so-far scoreless second half Rangers, showed some promise for a possible comeback.
However, the Rangers wouldn’t allow Pearce to upset their homecoming hopes, as Schneider led Jesuit to another touchdown drive. This time he connected with McAlone on a 50 yard touchdown pass with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.
This proved to be the final score of the game as the fourth quarter consisted of a punting spree. The Rangers managed to hold on to win the ball game, defeating Pearce 42-19.
Stat leaders included Schneider, who threw for 292 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. That combined that with a solid 63% completion rate shows his impressive performance. He has been particularly consistent as the season goes on. Hickman described Schneider’s improvement not only as a quarterback, but also as a leader:
“Bo is very composed and manages our offense well. He has developed so much throughout the season and is playing with a lot of confidence. You can see he wants to make the big throw and embraces that role. He is starting to lead this offense and be more vocal. You know you can count on Bo and the players respect him. Bo is peaking at the right time headed into the post season in a couple weeks.”
Other solid performances came from McAlone, who had 126 yards receiving and two touchdowns, Salters, who had 131 total yards of offense and two rushing scores, and Amy, who had 94 yards receiving and a touchdown.
But the offense wasn’t the only benefactor in this game. The 19 points was one of the lowest point totals that the Ranger defense allowed this season, suggesting their improvement from higher scoring games this year. “We went through some growing pains very early in the season and were young and inexperienced in some spots. The defense has grown up throughout the season and is playing well,” Hickman explained.
Hickman has been loving his defensive improvements, but he is quick not to take full credit: “I enjoy watching their passion and pursuit on every play. You see everyone sprinting to the football which our coaches really stress in practice. When you have that effort on every snap you have a chance to be special group. We are also creating multiple turnovers each week which has been huge. You have to give much credit to coach Thompson, Maturi, Leal, Golab, and DeLong preparing them and the kids buying in and believing in what we are doing.”
Unfortunately, the defense did have some key injuries. Interior linemen Taylor Stine ’15 and Kyle Shannon ’14 had to come out of the game. Hickman explained their status’, “We will know more about Taylor’s injury after the x-rays. I think Kyle will be back with us for the last game and playoffs with his shoulder sprain.”
The whole football team has been plagued with injuries throughout the season. Schneider, Salters, Amy, receiver Will Carney ’14, running back Adam Holtz ’16, are just some of the offensive players who have been hurt at some point during the year, not to mention all the defensive players. Coach Hickman described the pain of losing a player to injury:
“Anytime any of your players go down it stops your heart some. They work so hard for this moment. You treat these guys like your own kids and
want them to be successful and never get injured. It’s part of the game and unfortunately those things happen. If the prognosis is good they will do all they can with coach Martin and Moro getting treatment to get back out there with their team.”
Despite these costly injuries, the team rallied around them and delivered a blowout homecoming victory, something Jesuit fans haven’t seen all that much in the past few years. The Rangers have now improved to 5-3 on the season and 4-1 in district, ultimately moving to second place. They are on an amazing four game winning streak.
Next week Jesuit will play another district game versus Sunset. Played at Sunset, the Rangers hope to extend their win streak to five and continue to bulldoze through the district. Go out and support your Rangers!
