Photos by Nicole Flowers
September 30, 2024
Dominant effort leads Bulldogs to emphatic win over Hondo
By Brady Keane
BISD Assistant Football Coach
The Bandera Prophet
After consecutive weeks of heartbreaking finishes, the Bandera football team bounced back emphatically with a resounding 38-6 win over rival Hondo Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-0 lead and led 35-0 before Hondo finally got on the scoreboard midway through the fourth quarter. It was the most complete performance of the season for Bandera thus far, and it came at an important time with district play right around the corner.
“We owed it to ourselves and to our community to play better than we did the last time we threw a party in Bulldog Stadium,” Bandera Head Coach Joel Fontenot-Amedee said. “Each week is an opportunity to improve and gel as a team before we get into district play. I feel like this week our team really gelled and came together as one unit. We played with passion for four quarters, and it was a great overall showing versus a cross town rival. Our guys were very excited to play Friday night.”
That excitement was evident from the opening kickoff as the Bulldogs took the ball marched right down the field with a seven play, 65-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 25-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Dylan Peace to junior wide receiver Jeffry Thomas to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead with 9:49 left in the first quarter.
Bandera then forced its first of three Hondo turnovers on the Owls’ opening possession of the night when senior cornerback Ibraham MacNeil jumped in front of a short stop route and hauled in an interception. Peace connected with Benton Cloudt on a 42-yard pass on the very next play, but the Bulldogs eventually stalled out in Hondo territory.
The two defenses controlled the remainder of the first quarter, but Bandera’s dominance of the field position battle paid off after a Kenneth Seth sack forced a punt from deep in Hondo territory. Peace connected with senior Sam Snavely on a 57-yard touchdown pass one play later, and the Bulldogs extended the lead to 14-0 at the 6:28 mark of the second.
The Owls answered with two consecutive promising drives of their own, but the Bandera defense forced back-to-back turnovers on downs in the red zone to preserve the two-score lead heading into halftime.
“It was truly a defensive masterpiece,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “We had a phenomenal game plan that was executed to near perfection by our defense.”
Bandera’s momentum continued on Hondo’s first possession of the third quarter when Thomas jumped in front of a third down pass and returned an interception 57-yards for a touchdown. The Bulldogs then forced another Owls’ punt, and Peace connected with Thomas on a 44-yard touchdown pass that made it 28-0 with 6:32 left in the third.
Bandera forced Hondo’s fifth punt on its next drive, and then put together an impressive 99-yard scoring drive capped off by a 60-yard touchdown run from sophomore Breydan Gherman to make it 35-0 early in the fourth.
The Bulldogs added their final points of the night after a 58-yard run from Ibraham MacNeil set up a 28-yard field goal from senior kicker Jace Knowles, who scored a total of eight points on the night after going 5-of-5 on extra point attempts.
“We found a way to throw and catch the ball very well,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “We were finally able to put away a game by running the football. Our guys made big plays when called on, and the line stepped up and produced as well.”
Peace finished 9-of-14 passing for 263 yards and three touchdowns to pace the offense while Gherman led the run game with 16 carries for 102 yards and a score. MacNeil added three carries for 54 yards and one catch for 11 yards, while Thomas had five catches for 139 yards and two scores. Benton Cloudt chipped in two catches for 56 yards, and Snavely added one catch for 57 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Bulldogs forced five Hondo punts, a pair of turnovers on downs with fourth down stops, and three interceptions. Dane Barnett (13 tackles), and Gavin Spruell (9 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 sack) set the tone in the box while other leaders included Josh Goff (9 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 sack), Kenneth Seth (13 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack), Beto Rodrigues (9 tackles), Jonah Klein (6 tackles, 0.5 TFL) and West Cloudt (6 tackles). In the secondary, MacNeil had 3 tackles, 3 PBU and an interception, Thomas had two tackles and a 57-yard INT return for a touchdown, and Julian De La Paz had an interception had a 14-yard return.
Bandera moved to 3-2 on the season with the win, recording its second consecutive win over the Owls at Bulldog Stadium. Overall, Bandera has won two of its last three games over Hondo (2022, 2024) for the first time since winning back to back matchups between the teams in 2008 and 2009. Hondo won 11 of 13 games against the Bulldogs from 1999 to 2021.
The Bulldogs will look to build on the big win this week as they travel to take on Comfort Friday night, at 7 p.m. Bandera is 29-16-1 all-time against the Bobcats, but the series has evened out of late with the teams splitting the last eight matchups dating back to 2012. In the last meeting, the Bulldogs picked up a 40-6 win in 2021.
The Bobcats are 2-2 this year after having their Week 1 game against Brackett canceled due to weather. Comfort lost to Dilley before picking up wins over Ingram and Johnson City, but is coming off a 37-23 loss to 4-1 Llano last week.
“We are excited to return back to Comfort this Friday,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “We will have to run the football and stop the run. They are a very tradition rich, and explosive football team. We are excited to help celebrate someone’s homecoming again this week and are looking forward to seeing a big crowd of Bandera fans make the short road trip!”
JV Bulldogs improve to 4-0-1
The Bandera JV football team picked up its second straight win over Hondo, enduring a low-scoring defensive slugfest to pick up a 9-6 victory on the road Thursday night.
Sophomore kicker Miguel Avalos connected on field goals from 37, 36 and 39 yards to help deliver a rare touchdown-free victory. The Bulldogs’ defense protected the lead from start to finish, allowing just one fourth quarter touchdown to the Owls before getting a stop on the two point conversion.
Jackson Aragones threw for 45 yards, ran for 17 and had a 30 yard reception for the Bandera offense while James Goldberg had 30 yards passing, 19 yards rushing and 32 yards receiving. Carter Hanks rushed for 68 yards and Isaac Zamora had 43 yards rushing, including an incredible 41-yard run that featured several broken tackles to seal the victory.
Defensively, Landon Popham had a strip sack fumble and recovery, and Zamora had a strip sack fumble recovered by Carson Kothmann. William Vidmer also had a big defensive game in the box for the Bulldogs.
The Bandera freshman team was also back in action Thursday in a shortened contest prior to the start of the JV game. The Bulldogs fell behind 8-0, but a fourth down stop on a tackle for loss by Anthony Vanzant set up a 70-yard scoring drive that included a 38-yard pass from David Gutierrez to Chris Martinez and a 28-yard by Gutierrez. Harion Harrison scored on a 4-yard touchdown run, but the Bulldogs ultimately fell 14-6 in a back-and-forth affair.
At the JV level, Bandera improved to 4-0-1 on the season and will be back in action at 5 p.m., Thursday, at Bulldog Stadium against Comfort. The freshmen team will play Llano at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, at Bulldog Stadium.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-0 lead and led 35-0 before Hondo finally got on the scoreboard midway through the fourth quarter. It was the most complete performance of the season for Bandera thus far, and it came at an important time with district play right around the corner.
“We owed it to ourselves and to our community to play better than we did the last time we threw a party in Bulldog Stadium,” Bandera Head Coach Joel Fontenot-Amedee said. “Each week is an opportunity to improve and gel as a team before we get into district play. I feel like this week our team really gelled and came together as one unit. We played with passion for four quarters, and it was a great overall showing versus a cross town rival. Our guys were very excited to play Friday night.”
That excitement was evident from the opening kickoff as the Bulldogs took the ball marched right down the field with a seven play, 65-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 25-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Dylan Peace to junior wide receiver Jeffry Thomas to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead with 9:49 left in the first quarter.
Bandera then forced its first of three Hondo turnovers on the Owls’ opening possession of the night when senior cornerback Ibraham MacNeil jumped in front of a short stop route and hauled in an interception. Peace connected with Benton Cloudt on a 42-yard pass on the very next play, but the Bulldogs eventually stalled out in Hondo territory.
The two defenses controlled the remainder of the first quarter, but Bandera’s dominance of the field position battle paid off after a Kenneth Seth sack forced a punt from deep in Hondo territory. Peace connected with senior Sam Snavely on a 57-yard touchdown pass one play later, and the Bulldogs extended the lead to 14-0 at the 6:28 mark of the second.
The Owls answered with two consecutive promising drives of their own, but the Bandera defense forced back-to-back turnovers on downs in the red zone to preserve the two-score lead heading into halftime.
“It was truly a defensive masterpiece,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “We had a phenomenal game plan that was executed to near perfection by our defense.”
Bandera’s momentum continued on Hondo’s first possession of the third quarter when Thomas jumped in front of a third down pass and returned an interception 57-yards for a touchdown. The Bulldogs then forced another Owls’ punt, and Peace connected with Thomas on a 44-yard touchdown pass that made it 28-0 with 6:32 left in the third.
Bandera forced Hondo’s fifth punt on its next drive, and then put together an impressive 99-yard scoring drive capped off by a 60-yard touchdown run from sophomore Breydan Gherman to make it 35-0 early in the fourth.
The Bulldogs added their final points of the night after a 58-yard run from Ibraham MacNeil set up a 28-yard field goal from senior kicker Jace Knowles, who scored a total of eight points on the night after going 5-of-5 on extra point attempts.
“We found a way to throw and catch the ball very well,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “We were finally able to put away a game by running the football. Our guys made big plays when called on, and the line stepped up and produced as well.”
Peace finished 9-of-14 passing for 263 yards and three touchdowns to pace the offense while Gherman led the run game with 16 carries for 102 yards and a score. MacNeil added three carries for 54 yards and one catch for 11 yards, while Thomas had five catches for 139 yards and two scores. Benton Cloudt chipped in two catches for 56 yards, and Snavely added one catch for 57 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Bulldogs forced five Hondo punts, a pair of turnovers on downs with fourth down stops, and three interceptions. Dane Barnett (13 tackles), and Gavin Spruell (9 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 sack) set the tone in the box while other leaders included Josh Goff (9 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 sack), Kenneth Seth (13 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack), Beto Rodrigues (9 tackles), Jonah Klein (6 tackles, 0.5 TFL) and West Cloudt (6 tackles). In the secondary, MacNeil had 3 tackles, 3 PBU and an interception, Thomas had two tackles and a 57-yard INT return for a touchdown, and Julian De La Paz had an interception had a 14-yard return.
Bandera moved to 3-2 on the season with the win, recording its second consecutive win over the Owls at Bulldog Stadium. Overall, Bandera has won two of its last three games over Hondo (2022, 2024) for the first time since winning back to back matchups between the teams in 2008 and 2009. Hondo won 11 of 13 games against the Bulldogs from 1999 to 2021.
The Bulldogs will look to build on the big win this week as they travel to take on Comfort Friday night, at 7 p.m. Bandera is 29-16-1 all-time against the Bobcats, but the series has evened out of late with the teams splitting the last eight matchups dating back to 2012. In the last meeting, the Bulldogs picked up a 40-6 win in 2021.
The Bobcats are 2-2 this year after having their Week 1 game against Brackett canceled due to weather. Comfort lost to Dilley before picking up wins over Ingram and Johnson City, but is coming off a 37-23 loss to 4-1 Llano last week.
“We are excited to return back to Comfort this Friday,” Fontenot-Amedee said. “We will have to run the football and stop the run. They are a very tradition rich, and explosive football team. We are excited to help celebrate someone’s homecoming again this week and are looking forward to seeing a big crowd of Bandera fans make the short road trip!”
JV Bulldogs improve to 4-0-1
The Bandera JV football team picked up its second straight win over Hondo, enduring a low-scoring defensive slugfest to pick up a 9-6 victory on the road Thursday night.
Sophomore kicker Miguel Avalos connected on field goals from 37, 36 and 39 yards to help deliver a rare touchdown-free victory. The Bulldogs’ defense protected the lead from start to finish, allowing just one fourth quarter touchdown to the Owls before getting a stop on the two point conversion.
Jackson Aragones threw for 45 yards, ran for 17 and had a 30 yard reception for the Bandera offense while James Goldberg had 30 yards passing, 19 yards rushing and 32 yards receiving. Carter Hanks rushed for 68 yards and Isaac Zamora had 43 yards rushing, including an incredible 41-yard run that featured several broken tackles to seal the victory.
Defensively, Landon Popham had a strip sack fumble and recovery, and Zamora had a strip sack fumble recovered by Carson Kothmann. William Vidmer also had a big defensive game in the box for the Bulldogs.
The Bandera freshman team was also back in action Thursday in a shortened contest prior to the start of the JV game. The Bulldogs fell behind 8-0, but a fourth down stop on a tackle for loss by Anthony Vanzant set up a 70-yard scoring drive that included a 38-yard pass from David Gutierrez to Chris Martinez and a 28-yard by Gutierrez. Harion Harrison scored on a 4-yard touchdown run, but the Bulldogs ultimately fell 14-6 in a back-and-forth affair.
At the JV level, Bandera improved to 4-0-1 on the season and will be back in action at 5 p.m., Thursday, at Bulldog Stadium against Comfort. The freshmen team will play Llano at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, at Bulldog Stadium.