The McCallum Knights hosted the Dripping Springs Tigers
Friday night at House Park.
The Tigers drew first blood on the scoreboard on their second possession of the
game, scoring the first touchdown of the game off a recovered MAC fumble.
Adding on the point after touchdown the scoreboard read Tigers 7, Knights 0. On
the Knights’ very next possession, the fumble bug infected the Knights, turning
the ball over again to the Tigers. This time the Knights defense held and
forced the Tigers to attempt a field goal, which missed the uprights. Momentum
seemed to be shifting from the Dripping Springs side to the McCallum side after
the missed field goal.
McCallum started the second quarter with Steven Hilscher
intercepting a Tiger pass. The Knights capitalized on the turnover when Karl
Stewart scored a touchdown on a 14-yard pass from Trey Henderson, which was set
up by a previous pass completion of 50 yards also from Henderson
to Stewart. Paul Tearson’s point after was good, bringing the score to a 7-7
tie. McCallum took advantage of a blocked Tiger punt by Demetrius Moales to
score the go ahead touchdown on a pass from Henderson to Chris Bowser. Paul Tearson again made the point after, bringing the halftime score to 14 to 7 with McCallum
leading.
McCallum started off the second half kicking off to the
Tigers. The Knight defense came out fired up holding the Tigers, punctuated by
some good plays by Dallas Burrow, Mark Taylor and Josh Benavidez. The Knights
punted to the Tigers, but they were also bitten by the fumble bug and McCallum
recovered. Unfortunately, the Knights were not able to capitalize on the
turnover. After exchanging possessions between both teams, Dripping Springs was
able to close the scoreboard gap by kicking an 18-yard field goal, bringing the
score to Knights 14, Tigers 10. On the Tigers next possession, their tailback
broke for a long run scoring the touchdown giving the lead to the Tigers at 17
to 14. Time was running out on the scoreboard for the Knights who took the
ensuing kickoff, and started their march toward what they hoped was the winning
score. The Knights offense never said die and marched down the field
highlighted by hard running by both Henderson and Marcus Mann. A key play in
the drive was a pass from Henderson to Mike Miranda for a first down, keeping the Knights hopes and drive alive.
The go-ahead touchdown was a two-yard run for six points by Marcus Mann. Paul
Tearson added the extra point bringing the final score to McCallum 21, Dripping
Springs 17.
Congratulations go to Marcus Mann who stepped up and
filled in for the injured Jerald Cooper, as well for the defensive line of Josh
Benavidez, Mark Taylor, Julio Woolf, and Broderick Marshall. All in all, hats
are off to the entire Knight team for the comeback win.
McCallum JV Drops One at Dripping Springs
The McCallum JV
Knights traveled to Tiger country to take on the Dripping Springs JV last
Thursday night. Things didn’t look so good for the Knights during the first
half with the Tigers marching downfield on their first three possessions coming
out ahead of the Knights 21-0. McCallum wouldn’t say die and ended the first
half scoring on a 40 yard pass from Kevin Lusson to Van Lawrence Franks. Sam
Richter added on the point after.
The coaches took the players to the endzone at half and
stoked a fire in their bellies, because the Knights came out charging. MAC took
the opening kickoff and marched down field in an impressive drive, highlighted
by the passing of Kevin Lusson to Dominic Carroll and Jonathan Fisher. Lusson
capped off the drive with an 8 yard run for a touchdown, with Richter again
making the point after. That brought the score to 21-14 and momentum was on
McCallum’s side. The Knights defense had a strong showing in the second half
highlighted by them holding the Tigers on a 4th and 3 play. Some of the
defensive standouts were Dee Hadnot, Sam Richter, Knowl Richardson, and the two
new team members, Russell Roy and Michael Finkelstein.
McCallum had the opportunity, but could not capitalize on
their final possession. With just seconds left, Jonathan Fisher caught a 30
yard pass to get the ball down to the Tiger 15 yard line. Unfortunately MAC
couldn’t punch it in and ran out of downs. Final score McCallum 14, Dripping
Springs 21.
Kudos
this week go to the JV offensive line, who allowed the Knights passing
game to get on track, and the defensive linebackers, who during the
second half held the Tigers scoreless. Offensive linemen include Loren
Ramshur, Elbert Johnson, Carl Woody, Grant Davis, Tony Lombeida, and
Wilson Henderson. Defensive linebackers include Sam Richter, Jamal
Stevens, Tanner Wood, Russell Roy and Knowl Richardson.
Next up is Killeen on Friday the 23rd, at 7:30pm on
the Nelson Baseball field.
Freshman Knights Lose to Dripping Springs Tigers
The
Freshman Knights could not overcome some costly turnovers in their 28-6
losss to the Tigers in Dripping Springs Stadium on Sept 15th. The Tigers
were the first to score with 3:49 in the first half on a failed field
goal attempt that ended up in 20 yard scramble for a touchdown. Earlier
in the game the Knights stopped a Dripping Springs 13-play drive with
an timely interception by defensive back Jerald Bunton in the end zone.
McCallum's
first half was mired by two turnovers in the form of a fumble and an interception
after quarterback Ben Olsaky was knocked out of the game with an arm
injury. The Tigers, meanwhile, were able to complete several reverses
for big yardage and scored for a second time with only 11 seconds left
in the half, making it 14-0 at halftime.
The
second half started slow for both teams, as McCallum suffered another
fumble and interception on their first two possessions, while Dripping
Springs drives got bogged down in a failed field goal attempt and a
punt. The Knights finally got on the scoreboard early in the fourth
quarter behind some nifty runs by quarterback Regis Wilson and a nice
30 yard pass completed to Sammie Wheeler, to make it 22-6. The Knights
could get no closer, as Dripping Springs scored again on 24-yard run
with one minute left in the game to make the final score 28-6.
The
Knights will get a chance to rebound against Killeen at 5:30 Friday
evening at Nelson Baseball Field.
Submitted by Ann Davis
McCallum JV mom
