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Photos by Nicole Flowers
August 20, 2024
Bulldogs rack up five TDs in dominant first scrimmage
Brady Keane
BISD Assistant Football Coach
The Bandera Prophet
The Bandera varsity football team dominated its first live scrimmage of the year from start to finish Friday night on the road in Natalia, racking up nearly 400 yards and five touchdowns, and holding the Mustangs scoreless with less than 100 total yards in 38 plays.
“I think our kids and coaches were fired up, and that is what showed on film, especially defensively,” Bandera Head Football Coach Joel Fontenot-Amedee said. “We had 11 hats to the football all night. It was a lot of fun!”
The Bulldogs started the scrimmage by forcing two quick Natalia three-and-outs. Senior defensive end Gavin Spruell had a sack and junior linebacker Riley Moran had an early tackle for loss.
When Bandera flipped to the offensive side for the first time, senior quarterback Dylan Peace quickly found junior wide receiver Jeffry Thomas on a 73-yard touchdown pass. Three plays later, Peace connected with sophomore wide receiver Dalton Parks on a 75-yard touchdown pass. Peace completed two more 11-yard passes to Parks in the first offensive session, and had a 37-yard completion to junior Benton Cloudt that featured Cloudt carrying several Natalia defenders across the 50-yard line and down inside the 40.
The Mustangs broke off one long run to move inside the red zone for the first time in their second offensive session, but the Bulldogs got another stop after a sack from senior defensive lineman Jeremy Widders.
On the Bulldogs’ second offensive session, Parks shifted to quarterback and completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Ibraham MacNeil. The Bulldogs added another touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Peace to Thomas, and a 2-yard run from senior running back Julian De La Paz.
Defensive leaders for Bandera included Spruell, Moran, sophomore linebacker Jonah Klein, junior linebacker West Cloudt and junior safety Dane Barnett. Outside of one 41-yard run, Natalia totaled 21 yards on 11 carries against the Bulldogs defense. Bandera also racked up six sacks for a combined loss of 38 yards, and held the Mustangs to 10-of-19 passing for 74 yards.
“First and foremost, the effort was phenomenal,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “Secondly, we did a great job with our alignment and assignments throughout the scrimmage. We had great run fits and matched up the pass routes very well. We did a good job tackling for the first scrimmage. We did an excellent job of handling tempo as well.”
Offensively, Peace completed 7-of-14 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns while Parks was 2-for-2 passing for 30 yards and one touchdown. De La Paz had five carries for 44 yards, Parks had four carries for 30 yards, and sophomore Breydan Gherman added 12 yards rushing.
Thomas led all receivers with three catches for 139 yards and two scores, Parks had three catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, Benton Cloudt had one catch for 37 yards and MacNeil had two catches for 30 yards and a touchdown.
“We threw and caught the ball extremely well for this first true scrimmage of the year,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “Our quarterbacks threw the ball very accurately, our receivers made plays and once again, they did an awesome job blocking for each other after the catch! We have some work to do in the run game, but I'm confident we will get there.”
The Bulldogs will now turn their focus toward continuing to improve in anticipation of next week’s season opener at home against Poteet. First, Bandera will host Class 5A San Antonio Burbank this Thursday night at 7:15 p.m., in the final scrimmage of the pre-season.
“We are excited to host Burbank,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “They have an excellent football team. It should be a great scrimmage and we can't wait to see all the bulldog faithful pack the stands Thursday night in Bandera! Our focus as always is on us. Get better one day at a time, and stack the good days!”
JV/9th Bulldogs shine in first scrimmage action
With more than 60 players competing together in a combined JV and freshman scrimmage Friday night, the Bulldogs demonstrated flashes of potential in their first live action of the year.
Sophomore quarterback Jackson Aragones completed touchdown passes to sophomore fullback Clayton Jones and sophomore wide receiver Carson Kothmann, while also adding a number of big plays in the running game. Sophomore wide receiver Ruffin Scartocci was a reliable weapon on the perimeter, and freshman running back Harion Harrison broke off several long runs behind the Bandera offensive line.
Defensive standouts included sophomore linebacker Isaac Zamora, sophomore safety James Goldberg, freshman safety Ian Prothro, sophomore defensive lineman Mason Bartels and Kothmann at outside linebacker.
“We have a very large JV/Freshman group that were able to play a lot of plays and got better on Friday,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “I’m proud of the plays they made and the improvement we've seen from them on film.”
“I think our kids and coaches were fired up, and that is what showed on film, especially defensively,” Bandera Head Football Coach Joel Fontenot-Amedee said. “We had 11 hats to the football all night. It was a lot of fun!”
The Bulldogs started the scrimmage by forcing two quick Natalia three-and-outs. Senior defensive end Gavin Spruell had a sack and junior linebacker Riley Moran had an early tackle for loss.
When Bandera flipped to the offensive side for the first time, senior quarterback Dylan Peace quickly found junior wide receiver Jeffry Thomas on a 73-yard touchdown pass. Three plays later, Peace connected with sophomore wide receiver Dalton Parks on a 75-yard touchdown pass. Peace completed two more 11-yard passes to Parks in the first offensive session, and had a 37-yard completion to junior Benton Cloudt that featured Cloudt carrying several Natalia defenders across the 50-yard line and down inside the 40.
The Mustangs broke off one long run to move inside the red zone for the first time in their second offensive session, but the Bulldogs got another stop after a sack from senior defensive lineman Jeremy Widders.
On the Bulldogs’ second offensive session, Parks shifted to quarterback and completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Ibraham MacNeil. The Bulldogs added another touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Peace to Thomas, and a 2-yard run from senior running back Julian De La Paz.
Defensive leaders for Bandera included Spruell, Moran, sophomore linebacker Jonah Klein, junior linebacker West Cloudt and junior safety Dane Barnett. Outside of one 41-yard run, Natalia totaled 21 yards on 11 carries against the Bulldogs defense. Bandera also racked up six sacks for a combined loss of 38 yards, and held the Mustangs to 10-of-19 passing for 74 yards.
“First and foremost, the effort was phenomenal,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “Secondly, we did a great job with our alignment and assignments throughout the scrimmage. We had great run fits and matched up the pass routes very well. We did a good job tackling for the first scrimmage. We did an excellent job of handling tempo as well.”
Offensively, Peace completed 7-of-14 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns while Parks was 2-for-2 passing for 30 yards and one touchdown. De La Paz had five carries for 44 yards, Parks had four carries for 30 yards, and sophomore Breydan Gherman added 12 yards rushing.
Thomas led all receivers with three catches for 139 yards and two scores, Parks had three catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, Benton Cloudt had one catch for 37 yards and MacNeil had two catches for 30 yards and a touchdown.
“We threw and caught the ball extremely well for this first true scrimmage of the year,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “Our quarterbacks threw the ball very accurately, our receivers made plays and once again, they did an awesome job blocking for each other after the catch! We have some work to do in the run game, but I'm confident we will get there.”
The Bulldogs will now turn their focus toward continuing to improve in anticipation of next week’s season opener at home against Poteet. First, Bandera will host Class 5A San Antonio Burbank this Thursday night at 7:15 p.m., in the final scrimmage of the pre-season.
“We are excited to host Burbank,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “They have an excellent football team. It should be a great scrimmage and we can't wait to see all the bulldog faithful pack the stands Thursday night in Bandera! Our focus as always is on us. Get better one day at a time, and stack the good days!”
JV/9th Bulldogs shine in first scrimmage action
With more than 60 players competing together in a combined JV and freshman scrimmage Friday night, the Bulldogs demonstrated flashes of potential in their first live action of the year.
Sophomore quarterback Jackson Aragones completed touchdown passes to sophomore fullback Clayton Jones and sophomore wide receiver Carson Kothmann, while also adding a number of big plays in the running game. Sophomore wide receiver Ruffin Scartocci was a reliable weapon on the perimeter, and freshman running back Harion Harrison broke off several long runs behind the Bandera offensive line.
Defensive standouts included sophomore linebacker Isaac Zamora, sophomore safety James Goldberg, freshman safety Ian Prothro, sophomore defensive lineman Mason Bartels and Kothmann at outside linebacker.
“We have a very large JV/Freshman group that were able to play a lot of plays and got better on Friday,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “I’m proud of the plays they made and the improvement we've seen from them on film.”