Wildcats routed 70-13

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  • Wildcat wide receiver Bryant Sanchez holds off a North Forney defender. Courtesy/Cathy Bryan
    Wildcat wide receiver Bryant Sanchez holds off a North Forney defender. Courtesy/Cathy Bryan
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Sulphur Springs | Football

The visiting North Forney Falcons scored early and often taking a 70-13 win Friday in the season finale for both teams.

The Friday, Nov. 8 game was one-sided from the start with the Falcons erupting for 49 first-half points. For the game, the visitors rolled up over 600 yards to spoil the atmosphere of Senior Night for Sulphur Springs.

The Wildcats fell to 1-9 overall, 1-7. The squad had less 200 yards of total offense in the game, managing just two scores while the Falcons posted 10 touchdowns.

North Forney, despite having a powerful attack, missed the playoffs. The Falcons concluded the year with a 7-3 mark, 5-3 in district action.

The Wildcats took the opening kickoff and strung together a 51-yard scoring drive to start the game. Quarterback Kaden Wallace, seeing his first action in three weeks, opened the game with a 20-yard completion to Da’Korian Sims. Wallace then found Chase Haney open for another first-down reception. After two runs by Sims, the first drive was concluded when Wallace threw a 14-yard scoring pass to Bryant Sanchez. The try for a conversion failed, but the Wildcats had a 6-0 lead with 9:39 left to play in the first quarter.

Little did the Wildcats know that the Falcons were about to take flight. North Forney quickly scored three times in the quarter.

Ty Collins, who had 148 yards rushing in the game, found the end zone on a 2-yard scoring run. The point after by Carlos Rodriguez was perfect to make it a 7-6 game. Rodriguez would be perfect on the night making all 10 extra point kicks.

The Falcons went to the air with quarterback Jacob Acuna completing a 14-yard scoring pass to Dejuan Johnson. Now the visitors were up 14-6.

The Wildcats appeared to score again, but the possible Sulphur Springs drive turned into disaster. LaMarcus Kirk picked off a Wallace pass and returned it 67 yards for a Falcon score. Now the Wildcats were on the short end of a 21-6 total as action shifted to the second frame.

The Wildcats were in great field possession when Sanchez returned the North Forney kickoff 25 yards to near midfield.

Sulphur Springs got powerful rushing yards from Caden Davis. He had runs of 16, 3, 8 and 2 yards as the rushing game took shape. Sims closed out the drive, scoring on a 1-yard blast up the middle. The point after was good, cutting the Falcon lead to 21-13.

North Forney put the game on ice in the first half with four second-quarter scores.

The Falcons went deep into the bag of tricks with Acuna completing a double reverse touchdown pass, covering 17 yards to Zach Tucker. Acuna also had touchdown passes to Collyn Shipley and Zach Tucker.

Collins flashed his speed, scoring on a 40-yard burst behind blocks for a score. At the half, it was North Forney in command with a 49-13 lead.

The Wildcats were shut out in the final half.

The Falcons tacked on two scores in the third period and one in the fourth quarter. Collins and Acuna scored on short runs. Akanimo Asuquo scored on a long run with 10:42 left to make the final, 70-13.

For the game, Acuna completed 18-of-24 passes for 301 yards. The top rusher was Collins with 148 yards and three scores.

North Forney had 32 carries for 318 yards on the group. Acuna completed passes for 301 yards, giving the Falcons 619 total yards.

Wallace completed 10-of-21 passes for 96 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Haney had three catches for 32 yards; Zach Tiemeyer, three for 21; Sims, one for 20; and Sanchez caught 1 for a 14-yard score. Davis had 41 yards picked up on 12 yards, Sims got 28 yards on 10 tries, and J.J. Hall ran five times for 15 yards.

For the season, Wallace completed 133-of-245 passes for 1,330 yards and had 12 interceptions and six touchdowns. Noe Ponce in relief action completed 10-of-24 passes for 122 yards.

In 10 games, Davis collected 792 yards off 153 carries, while Sims ran 110 times for 435 yards. Each back had seven touchdowns each.

Top receivers for the year were Tiemeyer with 19 grabs for 234 yards; Haney caught 18 for 255 yards.

The defense for the Wildcats against the Falcons was highlighted with 11 tackles by Landry Meskimen. Ryan Carrillo had nine; Korderrian Turner, six; and five each from Kylan Wade and Haney.

Ponce had five punts for a 44.6 yard average.

For the season, Carrillo led all tacklers with 104; Wade turned in 86 stops with two interceptions; Haney recorded 71 total tackles and five interceptions; Turner tallied 66 tackles; Cameron Kaufert, 58; and D’Andre Peoples had 37 tackles and four sacks.

The Senior Night game was the final outing for 20 students. The seniors include: Sims, Campbell Cody, Haney, Derrick Clayton, Tiemeyer, Ponce, Aiden Walker, Brandon Zavala, Osiel Lopez, Jaden Janaway, Eleazar Arena, Nick Atkinson, George Greenway, Wade, Kaufert, Jerrad Ratliff, Chandler Leo, Giovanni Pizano, Ryan Hammons and Michah Timmons.