One of Dallas sports’ most storied venues, the Cotton Bowl has hosted some of football’s premier athletes over its 86 year history. Last weekend, it instead played host to the future, as top area high school teams faced off in the Cotton Bowl Stadium Prep Showcase.
Despite big plays from RB Evan Jackson ‘17 (171 yds, 2 TD) and WR John Wunderlick ‘17 (194 yds, 1 TD), Jesuit (0-2) faded in the second half and was unable to overcome Area No. 15 Plano East on Friday in the event’s opening matchup.
After playing consensus state top-5 program DeSoto to open the season, the Rangers turned around to face another demanding matchup in Plano East, led by Rice commit QB Miklo Smalls and LB Anthony Hines III, the nation’s 9th best linebacker recruit according to Rivals.com.
The Rangers opened the game with a steady 11 play, 85 yard drive that spanned the opening 6:01, capped by the first of Jackson’s two touchdowns, an 8-yard run. Accounting for 50 yards on the opening drive, Jackson sparked the offense in the first half. After the game, Jackson said, “I knew that I had to be ready because [the loss of Palisch] meant we would have to have a big day running the ball.”
After the Panther offense answered with a touchdown on a 70-yard drive led by Smalls, Plano East’s defense halted a Jesuit drive to take possession tied 7-7 to end the first quarter.
Plano East quickly took the lead to open the second quarter, as Smalls completed a 68-yard pass to the Jesuit 4-yard line before converting a touchdown rush. The Rangers showed resilience however, driving 74 yards on 14 plays over 5:53. The drive culminated in Jackson’s second touchdown rush, this one for 16 yards to tie the game at 14-14.
Retaking the momentum, Plano East returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, taking a 21-14 lead. A fumble recovery on the first play of Jesuit’s next drive quickly set up another touchdown. Down 28-14, Wunderlick’s 38 yard reception was a promising start to their next drive, but another fumble quickly halted the possession.
The Rangers didn’t have to wait long to get the ball back, as a fumble recovery by John Guzman ‘17 gave the Rangers the ball at the Panthers’ 23-yard line. QB Parker Towns ‘18 threw a touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage, finding WR Connor Jackson ‘17 in the end zone. With under two minutes in the first half, Plano East drove 63 yards to the Ranger 12, but failed to capitalize as time expired in the second quarter with Jesuit trailing by only a touchdown, 28-21.
The Jesuit defense came out strong to start the second half, stopping Plano East’s drive at their 45 and forcing a punt. Rushes by Jackson and Wunderlick marched the Rangers within three yards of tying the game, but a Hines tackle in the backfield and a holding penalty backed the Rangers up to the 20-yard line, before a missed field goal left the offense empty-handed for their efforts.
After Jesuit’s unsuccessful drive, Plano East took a hold on the game that they would not relinquish, increasing their lead to 23 points with two touchdowns and 2-point conversions in a span of 2:17.
Towns completed three passes for 76 yards, including a touchdown catch by Wunderlick, giving the Rangers a glimmer of hope trailing by three scores heading into the 4th quarter. However, after thwarting Plano East’s attempt at a fourth-down conversion at their own 30, the Rangers failed to take advantage, turning the ball over on an intercepted pass attempt to the end zone. The Panthers scored two plays later on a 73-yard touchdown run to seal their victory.
Despite the loss, the team remained optimistic following the game. Wunderlick remarked that “our team now knows how capable we are, [after going] head to head with Plano East,” and that “we just have to finish games in the second half and be able to protect the ball going forward.” Jackson reiterated this point: “I learned this week that we can truly keep up with the great teams. Now all we have to do is finish.”
Head Coach Brandon Hickman took positives from how the team “ran the ball very well and controlled the clock like we wanted,” but acknowledged that the team needs to reduce turnovers and improve tackling. “We have stressed [ball protection and tackling] this week in practice with our drill work,” Hickman said, “but it really comes down to staying focused tucking the ball and staying under control when tackling.”
Team captain NT Jack Metz ’17 commented, “Plano East, if anything for us, was a…lesson. We learned that we have to take care of the ball more on offense, and we need to tackle on defense. We also need to bring more energy and intensity to each game.”
On the upcoming matchup with state No. 4 Lake Travis (according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football rankings), the team is anticipating the opportunity to take down an elite opposition: “The mindset for Lake Travis doesn’t change just because they are a top ten in the state,” Metz said. “We come out every game expecting to win if we play the way we have been coached.” Jackson echoed his expectations, remarking, “My mindset going into next week as the same as it was last week: do anything it takes to win.”
After competitive first halves against both DeSoto and Plano East, DE Andrew Miskell ‘17 commented, “We know that we can compete with these teams, so we know that we can compete with Lake Travis.” He continued, “We obviously still have to work out some of the kinks in our defense, but we know what we did wrong and are working hard to fix them during practice this week. The more energy we have during the week, the more energy we will have Friday night, and if everyone knows their job and does that job well, we should definitely come out with the win on Friday.”
Hickman also looks forward to the competition of Lake Travis, saying, “We want to see our kids improve this week in these areas [mentioned earlier] heading into district. Anytime you can play a good football team it makes you better as a team,” Hickman continued. “Our players are looking forward to this opportunity and we’ve had an excellent week of practice. I feel good with where we are as a team just need to improve in these areas. So far we’ve played some really good teams that will make our team stronger down the road.”
After he threw for 222 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14-25 passing, Towns will lead the offense against Lake Travis on Friday. “[Regular starting QB] Jacob [Palisch] has been easing into reps this week so he’s ready to go for our first district game,” Hickman said. “This is a great experience for Parker and I thought he did a good job last week running the offense.”
Jesuit faces off against #4 Lake Travis in its home opener and final non-district game on Friday.
