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Photos by Nicole Flowers
September 3, 2024
Bandera takes down Poteet for 9th straight home win
By Brady Keane
BISD Assistant Football Coach
The Bandera Prophet
The Bandera football team found itself in a late-game battle to open the season Friday night, but the Bulldogs shook off a slow third quarter to defeat Poteet 29-22 and improve to 1-0 on the season.
The victory was Bandera’s ninth straight win at Bulldog Stadium dating back to 2022. The Aggies were the last team to beat the Bulldogs in Bandera in the season opener of that 2022 campaign.
“It was nice to get a home win to start off the 2024 year,” Bandera Head Coach Joel Fontenot-Amedee said. “The stands were packed!”
Senior quarterback Dylan Peace made his first start at quarterback for the Bulldogs and shined in the role, helping the offense overcome a slow night running the football. Peace completed a 27-yard pass late in the first quarter to set up the Bulldogs first score on a 3-yard run from sophomore Breydan Gherman, and a highlight-reel 48-yard touchdown pass from Peace to sophomore Dalton Parks made it 14-0 Bandera with 9:00 left in the 2nd quarter.
The Bandera defense held Poteet in check through the entirety of the first half, but a Bulldogs’ fumble gave the Aggies the ball deep in Bandera territory and set up a 6-yard touchdown pass with 1:18 left in the 2nd quarter.
Junior Jeffry Thomas returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Poteet 45-yard line though, giving Bandera a chance to execute its 2-minute offense before the halftime break. After a 24-yard pass from Peace to junior Benton Cloudt, Thomas hauled in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Peace. Parks added the 2-point conversion on a run around the right side, and the Bulldogs led 22-8 at the break.
Poteet quickly grabbed the momentum in the third quarter after returning a muffed kickoff for a touchdown, and the Aggies forced a quick three-and-out before punching in a 7-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 22-22.
Junior linebacker West Cloudt made a huge play to swing the momentum back to Bandera after intercepting a pass and returning it 46 yards deep into Poteet territory, but the score remained until the Bandera defense forced a punt from the Aggies’ end zone with 6:38 to go and took advantage of good field position to produce the game-winning score.
Senior Ibraham MacNeil made a pair of catches for 11 yards and 13 yards from Peace to move the Bulldogs into scoring position before Gherman scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to make it 29-22 with just under 3:00 remaining.
Senior kicker Jace Knowles added his third extra point of the night, and the Bandera defense sealed the win by forcing a turnover on downs with 1:17 to go in the 4th quarter.
“Our defense made stops when we needed them to in order to win the game,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “Our secondary, outside linebackers and interior defensive line played very well.”
Defensive leaders included West Cloudt, who was named the defensive player of the game after finishing with nine tackles, one tackle for loss, one pass break up and an interception (46-yard return). Senior defensive lineman Josh Goff had 8 tackles (1.5 for loss), senior defensive end Gavin Spruell had 8 tackles (0.5 for loss), Dalton Parks had 8 tackles, Rileey Moran had 9 tackles and Kenneth Seth finished with 12 tackles.
Offensively, Peace finished with 207 yards and two touchdowns on 12-of-19 passing while Gherman paced the ground game with his two rushing touchdowns. Thomas (4-54-1 TD), Sam Snavely (1-27), MacNeil (3-44), Parks (3-58-1 TD), and Benton Cloudt (1-24) contributed in the passing game on the perimeter.
“In his first game as a starter, Dylan saw a lot,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “He led our team and made some big plays to help us to 1-0. Very proud of how hard he worked to prepare last week. Time to do it again!”
After escaping Poteet’s comeback effort, the Bulldogs now turn their focus to the first road game of the year as Bandera will travel to play Ingram at 7 p.m. Friday night. The Warriors fell to Crystal City in the opener, but have a talented weapon at quarterback in senior Kye Hightower.
“We have to take care of the football, improve special teams performance and everyone will have to play their role to their fullest,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “Embrace the challenge! They are a very well coached football team who will be excited to play Bandera for the first time in a long time. It should be a great atmosphere this week in Ingram!”
JV Report
The Bandera JV football team also jumped out to an early lead and survived a late Poteet comeback effort with some second-half heroics to claim a 19-9 win over the Aggies.
Sophomore quarterback Jackson Aragones completed touchdown passes to Aidan Law (6 yards), Ruffin Scartocci (94 yards), and Carson Kothmann (35 yards). Zach Goodin recovered a fumble for the Bulldogs’ kickoff team, and William Vidmer and Landon Popham set the tone defensively for Bandera in the win.
The JV Bulldogs will be back in action at Bulldog Stadium Thursday, at 5 p.m., against Ingram, while the freshmen Bulldogs open their season Thursday, at 6:30 p.m., against Hondo.
The victory was Bandera’s ninth straight win at Bulldog Stadium dating back to 2022. The Aggies were the last team to beat the Bulldogs in Bandera in the season opener of that 2022 campaign.
“It was nice to get a home win to start off the 2024 year,” Bandera Head Coach Joel Fontenot-Amedee said. “The stands were packed!”
Senior quarterback Dylan Peace made his first start at quarterback for the Bulldogs and shined in the role, helping the offense overcome a slow night running the football. Peace completed a 27-yard pass late in the first quarter to set up the Bulldogs first score on a 3-yard run from sophomore Breydan Gherman, and a highlight-reel 48-yard touchdown pass from Peace to sophomore Dalton Parks made it 14-0 Bandera with 9:00 left in the 2nd quarter.
The Bandera defense held Poteet in check through the entirety of the first half, but a Bulldogs’ fumble gave the Aggies the ball deep in Bandera territory and set up a 6-yard touchdown pass with 1:18 left in the 2nd quarter.
Junior Jeffry Thomas returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Poteet 45-yard line though, giving Bandera a chance to execute its 2-minute offense before the halftime break. After a 24-yard pass from Peace to junior Benton Cloudt, Thomas hauled in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Peace. Parks added the 2-point conversion on a run around the right side, and the Bulldogs led 22-8 at the break.
Poteet quickly grabbed the momentum in the third quarter after returning a muffed kickoff for a touchdown, and the Aggies forced a quick three-and-out before punching in a 7-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 22-22.
Junior linebacker West Cloudt made a huge play to swing the momentum back to Bandera after intercepting a pass and returning it 46 yards deep into Poteet territory, but the score remained until the Bandera defense forced a punt from the Aggies’ end zone with 6:38 to go and took advantage of good field position to produce the game-winning score.
Senior Ibraham MacNeil made a pair of catches for 11 yards and 13 yards from Peace to move the Bulldogs into scoring position before Gherman scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to make it 29-22 with just under 3:00 remaining.
Senior kicker Jace Knowles added his third extra point of the night, and the Bandera defense sealed the win by forcing a turnover on downs with 1:17 to go in the 4th quarter.
“Our defense made stops when we needed them to in order to win the game,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “Our secondary, outside linebackers and interior defensive line played very well.”
Defensive leaders included West Cloudt, who was named the defensive player of the game after finishing with nine tackles, one tackle for loss, one pass break up and an interception (46-yard return). Senior defensive lineman Josh Goff had 8 tackles (1.5 for loss), senior defensive end Gavin Spruell had 8 tackles (0.5 for loss), Dalton Parks had 8 tackles, Rileey Moran had 9 tackles and Kenneth Seth finished with 12 tackles.
Offensively, Peace finished with 207 yards and two touchdowns on 12-of-19 passing while Gherman paced the ground game with his two rushing touchdowns. Thomas (4-54-1 TD), Sam Snavely (1-27), MacNeil (3-44), Parks (3-58-1 TD), and Benton Cloudt (1-24) contributed in the passing game on the perimeter.
“In his first game as a starter, Dylan saw a lot,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “He led our team and made some big plays to help us to 1-0. Very proud of how hard he worked to prepare last week. Time to do it again!”
After escaping Poteet’s comeback effort, the Bulldogs now turn their focus to the first road game of the year as Bandera will travel to play Ingram at 7 p.m. Friday night. The Warriors fell to Crystal City in the opener, but have a talented weapon at quarterback in senior Kye Hightower.
“We have to take care of the football, improve special teams performance and everyone will have to play their role to their fullest,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “Embrace the challenge! They are a very well coached football team who will be excited to play Bandera for the first time in a long time. It should be a great atmosphere this week in Ingram!”
JV Report
The Bandera JV football team also jumped out to an early lead and survived a late Poteet comeback effort with some second-half heroics to claim a 19-9 win over the Aggies.
Sophomore quarterback Jackson Aragones completed touchdown passes to Aidan Law (6 yards), Ruffin Scartocci (94 yards), and Carson Kothmann (35 yards). Zach Goodin recovered a fumble for the Bulldogs’ kickoff team, and William Vidmer and Landon Popham set the tone defensively for Bandera in the win.
The JV Bulldogs will be back in action at Bulldog Stadium Thursday, at 5 p.m., against Ingram, while the freshmen Bulldogs open their season Thursday, at 6:30 p.m., against Hondo.