BLANKET – For the second consecutive year, the Zephyr Bulldogs hoisted the District 15-A Division II championship trophy at the end of the regular season. But for the Blanket Tigers, unlike last season, their campaign reached its conclusion with Friday night’s 45-8 decision.
“This feels great, especially after the first few years when I came here and we were struggling,” said Zephyr head coach Jeremy Phillips, whose Bulldogs have captured back-to-back district championships after winning a total of just one game the two seasons prior. “To be able to turn it around and have all the success we’ve had lately is a great feeling for the kids and the community. It’s an exciting time right now.”
Blanket (5-5, 2-2) needed to win to create a three-way tie with Zephyr (8-2, 4-0) and Sidney (7-3, 3-1) for the district title, and a victory by at least 13 points would have sent the Tigers to the playoffs for the second year in a row under head coach Michael Cherry.
“From the get go it felt like nothing really went our way,” said Blanket head coach Michael Cherry. “We felt like there were some plays there, but we’d have a guy slip or one guy would get off a block, but that’s how this game is, all it takes is one mistake. But I’m extremely proud of the fight we showed the entire game.”
The Tigers actually drove 63 yards in 13 plays and chewed 6:33 off the clock on the first possession of the game, as Gage Jones connected with Mason Beck on an 8-yard touchdown pass and Adam McLaughlin booted the two-point kick to stake Blanket to an 8-0 lead with 3:27 left in the first quarter.
From that point on, however, the Tigers failed to score again and mustered just 142 additional yards the rest of the night.
“We knew they were going to be physical, we had to find a way to counter that and I thought we did a good job making adjustments defensively,” said Phillips, whose team allowed 205 total yards, with 177 coming on the ground. “We started figuring out some of the things they were trying to do to us and started making adjustments. Early on they extended drives by getting in short yardage situations and we missed a few tackles that allowed them to extend the drive and chew up the clock, but later we started to make some big plays behind the line of scrimmage.”
Cherry added, “We’ve struggled later in games on offense and that’s something where I have to take a look in the mirror and figure out where I went wrong. We played our tails off, we continued to fight, the effort was there. Maybe the play calling or coaching wasn’t, but I’m extremely proud of the kids and the way they fought.”
Down a touchdown, Zephyr moved 65 yards in five plays on its first drive, which ended with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Stevens – who completed 6 of 14 tosses for 180 yards and three touchdowns – to Karsen Floyd, who grabbed four receptions for 111 yards, reached the end zone twice, and also rushed for 56 yards. The extra point pass from Stevens to Rhett Williams left the Bulldogs behind, 8-7, with 2:06 left in the first quarter.
The Zephyr defense then held Blanket to a three-and-out, and a 3-yard punt allowed the Bulldogs to take over at the Tiger 17 with 42 seconds left in the first period. Three snaps later, Stevens connected with Jim Evetts on a 15-yard catch and run touchdown, then Stephens found Ethan Byers on the extra point pass as Zephyr seized the lead for good, 14-8, just 11 seconds into the second period.
“We had two weeks to prepare, we knew where some of their weaknesses were and we game planned to attack those,” Phillips said of the Zephyr offense, which churned out 371 yards – 191 though the air and 180 on the ground. “Our guys did a pretty good job executing. We had a couple of stalled drives, but other than that we did pretty well and our speed was giving them a hard time.”
Blanket’s next possession ended on the first of two turnovers as Floyd picked off a Cameron Aultman pass at the Bulldog 34. On the next snap, Tripp Ballard – who rushed for a team-high 106 yards – scampered 46 yards to end zone to boost the Zephyr lead to 22-8 with 5:47 left in the first half after a Stevens two-point kick.
Zephyr tacked on a final first-half touchdown and led 30-8 at the break as Stevens and Floyd hooked up again to cap a one-play, 45-yard drive with 1:37 left in the first half. The score came immediately after Blanket was stopped short on a fourth-and-7 run by Kannon Kensing, who led all ball carriers with 164 yards on 36 carries.
Blanket recovered an onside kick to start the second half but the ensuing drive stalled at the Zephyr 11. Fueled by a 53-yard pass from Stevens to Corben Gosnell, the Bulldogs capped a seven-play, 69-yard touchdown drive with a 5-yard scoring run by Ballard, increasing the edge to 38-8 with 4:18 left in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs found the end zone once more with 1:37 left in the contest on a 1-yard plunge by Chayden Woodcock, who rushed for 26 yards on five carries. The touchdown was set up by a Johnny Paul Evans-Rollins interception at the Zephyr 30 with 4:53 remaining.
Reflecting on the season, Cherry said of the Tigers, “We’re young and we had some young guys step into roles maybe they weren’t quite ready for but we saw some tremendous growth. Our seniors were what they needed to be, they worked hard and we’ll miss those guys.”
Next up for Zephyr, the Bulldogs will tangle with District 16-A Division II runner-up Cherokee (8-1) in the Region IV bi-district round of the playoffs in a game tentatively set for 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10 in San Saba.
