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Photos by Nicole Flowers
August 13, 2024
Bulldogs open football season with Popsicle Bowl Scrimmage
Brady Keane
The Bandera Prophet
The Bandera football team kicked off the 2024 season with its annual popsicle bowl Saturday morning, providing a number of big plays on both sides of the ball at the freshmen, JV and varsity level for a packed crowd of fans that lined the fence on Old San Antonio Road.
“Honestly, it's easy to get caught up in the moment with practice whether you are a player or a coach and not even notice what's going on outside the fence, but this time you couldn't miss the crowd,” Head Coach and Athletic Director Joel Fontenot-Amedee said. “They were parked two deep in some places for all 100 yards of our practice field. Thanks to our parents and fans for showing up for our players!”
The varsity Bulldogs started things off with a competitive series of big plays that included a sack from junior linebacker West Cloudt and a 41-yard completion from senior quarterback Dylan Peace to senior wide receiver Sam Snavely. Junior safety Dane Barnett made a key redzone tackle just short of the first down marker, and senior kicker Jace Knowles connected on a 23-yard field goal for the first points of the day.
In the second series, senior defensive end Gavin Spruell had a pair of tackles for loss for the Bandera defense, while sophomore quarterback Dalton Parks had a 15-yard completion to sophomore Breydan Gherman for a first down and a 50-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jeffry Thomas.
The varsity Bulldogs continued to make noise with a 75-yard touchdown pass from Peace to Gherman and a 65-yard touchdown pass from Peace to Thomas, while Knowles went 3-for-3 on PAT attempts. The final points of the varsity scrimmage came on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Peace to junior wide receiver Benton Cloudt.
The Bandera defense looked polished as well with its first group, including varsity newcomer Jonah Klein and returners Ibraham MacNeil, Dane Barnett and Roman Rigelsky leading the way.
“We are not where we want to be but we are exactly where we are supposed to be,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “I thought the defense tackled extremely well for the first scrimmage of the year. Offensively we made some big plays in the passing game. As with every team during their first week of practice, we made mental errors that are very fixable. What I really like was the intensity we played with on both sides of the ball and how we finished each play.”
At the JV level, offensive standouts included sophomore quarterback Jackson Aragones, who completed touchdown passes to sophomore wide receiver James Goldberg and freshman wide receiver Hayden Drefke. Sophomore cornerback Remi Galloway had an interception for the defense, while sophomore linebacker Isaac Zamora and freshman linebacker Carson Kothmann set the tone for the front seven.
In the freshmen scrimmage, quarterback David Gutierrez and running back Harion Harrison made a number of big plays on the ground. Linebacker Landon Popham made a handful of tackles defensively, and safety Evyn Krause had an interception with a big return.
The Bulldogs will return to the practice field this week before traveling to scrimmage Natalia Friday evening. Bandera will host San Antonio Burbank in a scrimmage next Thursday before hosting Poteet in the season opener on Friday, Aug. 30.
“Our focus as always is on us,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “We evaluated the film as a coaching staff and identified lots of things we can improve on as a team. That will be our focus this week. We look forward to a great scrimmage at a beautiful new turf facility in Natalia. We are excited to hit someone else!”
“Honestly, it's easy to get caught up in the moment with practice whether you are a player or a coach and not even notice what's going on outside the fence, but this time you couldn't miss the crowd,” Head Coach and Athletic Director Joel Fontenot-Amedee said. “They were parked two deep in some places for all 100 yards of our practice field. Thanks to our parents and fans for showing up for our players!”
The varsity Bulldogs started things off with a competitive series of big plays that included a sack from junior linebacker West Cloudt and a 41-yard completion from senior quarterback Dylan Peace to senior wide receiver Sam Snavely. Junior safety Dane Barnett made a key redzone tackle just short of the first down marker, and senior kicker Jace Knowles connected on a 23-yard field goal for the first points of the day.
In the second series, senior defensive end Gavin Spruell had a pair of tackles for loss for the Bandera defense, while sophomore quarterback Dalton Parks had a 15-yard completion to sophomore Breydan Gherman for a first down and a 50-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jeffry Thomas.
The varsity Bulldogs continued to make noise with a 75-yard touchdown pass from Peace to Gherman and a 65-yard touchdown pass from Peace to Thomas, while Knowles went 3-for-3 on PAT attempts. The final points of the varsity scrimmage came on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Peace to junior wide receiver Benton Cloudt.
The Bandera defense looked polished as well with its first group, including varsity newcomer Jonah Klein and returners Ibraham MacNeil, Dane Barnett and Roman Rigelsky leading the way.
“We are not where we want to be but we are exactly where we are supposed to be,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “I thought the defense tackled extremely well for the first scrimmage of the year. Offensively we made some big plays in the passing game. As with every team during their first week of practice, we made mental errors that are very fixable. What I really like was the intensity we played with on both sides of the ball and how we finished each play.”
At the JV level, offensive standouts included sophomore quarterback Jackson Aragones, who completed touchdown passes to sophomore wide receiver James Goldberg and freshman wide receiver Hayden Drefke. Sophomore cornerback Remi Galloway had an interception for the defense, while sophomore linebacker Isaac Zamora and freshman linebacker Carson Kothmann set the tone for the front seven.
In the freshmen scrimmage, quarterback David Gutierrez and running back Harion Harrison made a number of big plays on the ground. Linebacker Landon Popham made a handful of tackles defensively, and safety Evyn Krause had an interception with a big return.
The Bulldogs will return to the practice field this week before traveling to scrimmage Natalia Friday evening. Bandera will host San Antonio Burbank in a scrimmage next Thursday before hosting Poteet in the season opener on Friday, Aug. 30.
“Our focus as always is on us,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “We evaluated the film as a coaching staff and identified lots of things we can improve on as a team. That will be our focus this week. We look forward to a great scrimmage at a beautiful new turf facility in Natalia. We are excited to hit someone else!”