BANGS – The Bangs Dragons showed no ill effects from their only loss of the regular season as they rebounded from last week’s setback at Ballinger with a 76-23 thrashing of the Brady Bulldogs Friday night to secure the second playoff seed from District 2-3A Division II.
“The thing we’re most proud of is the way we bounced back from a tough loss against Ballinger, and not just it being our first loss but the emotion that went into that game,” said Bangs third-year head coach Kyle Maxfield, who has guided the Dragons to a second straight postseason appearance. “We had a good week of practice and this is just a credit to our senior leadership and what they wanted to accomplish this year.”
Sparked by a 440-yard, seven-touchdown performance on the ground by senior running back Ethan Sanchez, the Dragons churned out 635 yards of total offense for the game, including 552 rushing.
“Being Senior Night, my last game here, this is going to be pretty high up there,” Sanchez said in regard to ranking Friday’s contest among his favorite memories as a Dragon.
At halftime, Bangs had opened a 62-7 advantage after outgaining Brady 536-49 in total yards over the first two quarters, while reaching the end zone nine times. Sanchez rushed for 367 yards and six scores in the first half alone, behind the blocking of offensive linemen Logan Bishop, Warren Theriaque, Samuel Packer, Trey Ivey and Charlie Smith.
“I always try to do as good as I can but tonight was just different,” Sanchez said. “Everything just worked tonight. Our line clicked, our offense clicked and our defense clicked.”
Sanchez toted the ball just 14 times and averaged 31 yards per carry, and 54 yards per carry on his seven touchdown runs. As a team, Bangs averaged 21 yards per snap in the first half and 17 yards per play for the game, running just 37 plays.
“It was a fitting end with this being his last game played at Memorial Stadium,” Maxfield said of Sanchez’s performance. “It couldn’t have happened to a better player. The line up front did a great job, and he’ll be the first to give them credit, but he also has the ability to make plays.”
Quarterback Ethan Sanchez contributed 63 yards on the ground and a touchdown and passed for 83 yards with another score and one pick.
Defensively, Bangs yielded just 49 yards in the first half, and 190 for the game – with 84 yards coming on Brady’s final play, a touchdown pass from Kaden Bernal to a wide open Parker Linnard on a busted coverage.
The Dragons also forced four takeaways which resulted in 28 Bangs points. Cortez picked off two passes, Hunter Bernal recorded an interception and Austin Tilley pounced on a fumble.
“We got back to creating turnovers and that hurt us last week,” Maxfield said. “That is the only game where we haven’t won the turnover battle. It’s nice to get back on the plus side of that.”
Bangs needed just four plays to score on its opening possession as Sanchez raced to the end zone from 61 yards out for a 7-0 lead, following Braxton Melling’s extra point, just 1:25 into the contest.
Following a Brady three-and-out, Bangs held the ball five plays before Sanchez broke free for a 41-yard score – his shortest of the night – to boost the lead to 13-0 with 6:53 left in the opening stanza.
Brady picked up its initial first down on the next drive due to a penalty, but soon gave the ball back to the Dragons at the Bangs 45. After an incomplete pass on first down, Sanchez reeled off a 55-yard scoring sprint for a 20-0 lead at 3:09 of the first period. At that point, Sanchez had already amassed 185 rushing yards.
Facing a fourth-and-2 from its own 38 on the first play of the second period, Cortez found a hole in the Brady defense and rumbled 62 yards for a Bangs touchdown as the lead stood at 27-0 with 11:47 left before halftime.
A 60-yard kick return set up Brady at the Bangs 20, where JB Ibarra scored on the next play to put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard, 27-7, at the 11:27 mark of the second quarter.
On Bangs’ very next snap the Dragons were in the end zone again thanks to a 61-yard sprint from Sanchez, which stretched the lead to 34-7.
The third of six Bangs second-quarter touchdowns occurred with 8:30 left in the first half on a 60-yard catch and run by Wedeman.
With 5:13 left in the half, Bernal tipped and then picked off a Brady pass for the Dragons’ first takeaway. On the next snap, Sanchez – who finished with 1,798 rushing yards and 28 rushing touchdowns in nine regular season games – galloped to the end zone from 60 yards out to extend the lead to 48-7, pushing him over the 300-yard mark for the game with 4:15 left in the half.
A Brady three-and-out led to the fifth of its six first-half punts, and Bangs answered with another one-play scoring drive as Sanchez found the end zone from 50 yards out, boosting the edge to 55-7.
Brady then failed to come up with the ensuing kick and Tilley recovered at the Bulldog 7. Guy Powell scored on a 7-yard carry on the next snap and the Dragon cushion stood at 62-7 with 2:15 to go before intermission.
With a running clock in the second half, Brady added touchdowns on a 6-yard run by Ibarra and the length of the field fourth quarter pass from Bernal to Linnard.
Meanwhile, Sanchez concluded his night with a 55-yard scoring sprint while Trevor Lorah reached the end zone on a 1-yard carry with 7:55 left, which gave Bangs a 61-point advantage at the time, 76-15.
“Momentum was the key for everything,” Sanchez said of the team’s primary goal coming into the game. “We worked all week on trying not to stay down, and we worked all week on fixing where we messed up last Friday”
The Dragons (8-1, 4-1) will tangle with District 1-3A Division II third seed Tornillo in the bi-district round of the playoffs at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Fort Stockton, according to Maxfield.
Brady (4-6, 2-3) will head into the postseason as the fourth seed from District 2 and battle District 1 champion Crane.
Bangs 76, Brady 23
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Brady 0 7 8 8 – 23
Bangs 20 42 7 7 – 76
SCORING SUMMARY
Bangs: Ethan Sanchez 61 run (Braxton Melling kick), 10:35, 1st
Bangs: Sanchez 41 run (kick failed), 6:53, 1st
Bangs: Sanchez 55 run (Melling kick), 3:09, 1st
Bangs: Ethan Cortez 62 run (Melling kick), 11:47, 2nd
Brady: JD Ibarra 20 run (Sergio Saucedo kick), 11:27, 2nd
Bangs: Sanchez 61 run (Melling kick), 11:06, 2nd
Bangs: Brayton Wedeman 60 pass from Cortez (Melling kick), 8:30, 2nd
Bangs: Sanchez 60 run (Melling kick), 4:15, 2nd
Bangs: Sanchez 50 run (Melling kick), 2:39, 2nd
Bangs: Guy Powell 7 run (Melling kick), 2:15, 2nd
Brady: Ibarra 6 run (Ibarra run), 7:27, 3rd
Bangs: Sanchez 55 run (Melling kick), 0:55, 3rd
Bangs: Trevor Loran 1 run (Melling kick), 7:55, 4th
Brady: Parker Linnard 84 pass from Kaden Bernal (Ibarra run), 6:15, 4th
TEAM STATS
Brady Bangs
First Downs 10 18
Total Offense 190 635
Rushes-Yards 28-54 30-552
Passing Yards 136 83
Comp-Att-Int 6-18-3 4-7-1
Punts 6-32.8 0-0.0
Fumbles Lost 1 0
Penalties-Yards 2-25 7-80
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: Brady – JD Ibarra 15-69; Kaden Bernal 2-6; Jacob Wernecke 1-0; Hayden Baronet 9-(-6); Team 1-(-15). Bangs – Ethan Sanchez 14-440, 7 TDs; Ethan Cortez 5-63, TD; Guy Powell 5-24, TD; Damien Santillanes 1-19; Trevor Bowers 2-12, Trevor Lorah 2-5, TD; Brayton Wedeman 1-(-1).
PASSING: Brady – Bernal 3-7-1-122, TD; Baronet 3-11-2-14. Bangs – Cortez 4-7-1-83, TD.
RECEIVING: Brady – Wernecke 3-45; Parker Linnard 2-89, TD; Ibarra 1-2. Bangs – Wedeman 1-60, TD; Santillanes 1-19; Powell 1-6; Bowers 1-(-2).
