So Long W.T. White! Rangers Cruise 59-7

With a district rival just a couple blocks away, Jesuit games against W.T. White are always gateways to bragging rights in the Preston Hollow area.  The Rangers have been on a roll this year, and continued their march through district play by rolling over the Longhorns.  Last Friday October 12, 2012, the Rangers packed their bags and took a ten minute drive to Loos Stadium, surging past a W.T. White team in much need of a win.

Jesuit showed no mercy to their district rivals right out of the gates.  From the start of the 1^st Quarter, the Rangers pounded the Longhorns.  Defensively, the team shut down the Longhorns on the first drive of the game, stopping the Longhorns on 4^th down.

QB Jack Brezette ’13 took advantage of a short field, utilizing his RB Will Brown ’13 on three of four plays.  Brown burst through the offensive line only three minutes into the game to put the Rangers up by seven points.  On the next W.T. White drive, Jesuit, despite a pass interference penalty, shut down the Longhorns again, forcing a punt; however, the White defense was able to stop the Rangers on a bold 4^th down call.

Nonetheless, a defense led by DE JD Waggoner ’13 and LB Jordan Mastrogiovanni ’13 forced a fumble that the Longhorns maintained but still forced a punt and a touchback for the Rangers.  Speed WR/DB Orion Salters ’14 took one just play to go over 80 yards down the visiting team sideline, putting the Rangers up 14-0.

After this elusive run, things began to go south for the Longhorns as a smiling and laughing DE Evan English ’13 picked up a fumble forced by Waggoner in the end zone to extend the lead to 21.

By the time the 2^nd Quarter had begun for the Rangers, the offense had not really even spent that much time on the field.  After another 4^th down stop, the offense came back onto the field with a commanding lead and displayed even more offensive success as WR Jake Oliver ’13 caught two passes for 30 yards and 20 yards respectively, finding his way into the end zone for the first time of the night.

Showing no mercy for a struggling W.T. White team led by a sophomore QB Tyree Key, the defense forced another 3-and-out.  The Rangers score continued to pile.  WR Daniel Valencia ’13 hauled in a 38 yard catch, and Brown rushed for 12 yards, while picking up a Longhorn penalty.

Two plays later, Brown found the end zone again, putting Jesuit up by five touchdowns.  W.T. White’s punter made it back out onto the field again, as the offense fell apart again and Jesuit’s defense shined.  On the next drive, Brezette completed five passes, including three to Oliver and one each to Brown and WR Taylor Tibbits ’13.

One of these completions was an 8 yard dart to Oliver making the lead 42.  Bold playing calling again came back to haunt W.T. White as they were again stopped on a 4^th down.  Valencia was beat in a footrace to the end zone, but only after propelling the offense 61 yards down the field and setting it up for a seventh touchdown – including Oliver’s third touchdown of the game.

As has been usual during the season at halftime, backups were put into the game for the remainder of play.  Under the basketball court at Loos, the Jesuit team took time to cool off and to keep in the mindset of putting W.T. White away.  At halftime, WR Drew Highlander ’13 remarked that the high scoring of the Rangers was “the way [they’ve] been playing all year.  [They] plan to come out and dominate the opponent all night for four quarters.”

When play resumed and Jesuit received the second half kickoff, WR Garrett Amy ’15 returned the kickoff for a touchdown, but a holding penalty against the Rangers negated the run-back.  The next offensive series saw QB Joe Willie Laufenberg ’13, RB Pierce Durham ’14, and Amy rush their way down into W.T. White territory, but an incomplete pass intended for WR Davis Bittner ’13 on 3^rd down put Jesuit into a field goal situation.

K Cody Wicker ’13 split the uprights, and for the second straight week, Jesuit had scored at least 50 points.  The next possession by the Longhorns found them into Jesuit territory, but a poor 4^th down call again doomed them to another turnover on downs.

A penalty and a bad snap, however, resulted in the Rangers punting for the first time of the night, and the Longhorns, behind backup QB Jackson Fults, found their way to the Jesuit 29-yard line and into the 4^th Quarter.  The Rangers stopped yet another 4^th down and had another shot to get into the end zone.  Laufenberg, who had been running the ball well all night, split the defense down the middle and beat the defensive backs in a footrace on a 35-yard touchdown scamper, the first of his season and career.

On their last drive of the night, the Longhorns ended the shut-out by finally finding the end zone after a long 51 yard rush by RB Cameron Goodlet and a 1 yard touchdown by RB Charles Cotton.  For the 3^rd straight year, Jesuit defeated W.T. White with a final score 59-7.

Leaders for the Rangers:

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Jesuit was able to accumulate 566 yards of offense with zero turnovers and limit W.T. White to 165 total yards.  WR/K Paul Arden ’13 on the win said that the “team is on a streak right now.  Everything is clicking on all sides of the ball, and [they] will continue to win playing like this.”

The Rangers (5-1;2-1) resume play tomorrow October 19 at home against the Lake Highlands Wildcats (4-2;2-1).  The game will be Senior Night for the Class of 2013, as well as DPL Night.  Come out and support your Rangers!