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Wildcats clinch district title
Published October 31, 2009
ANGLETON — You know what they say about speed.
Angleton used its deadly weapon against visiting Santa Fe here Friday, whizzing to a commanding 28-0 lead at intermission then coasting to a 35-14 victory over the Indians, clinching the District 24-4A championship.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the kids,” Wildcat coach Finis Vanover said, smiling. “We played great on both sides of the ball tonight. It was a complete team effort and it was great to get to play all the young kids tonight. We are district champs, but we still have some things we want to accomplish.”
Santa Fe came in with the top-ranked defense against the rush, but went away limping as the speedy Wildcats closed out with 365 yards rushing, including 112 yards on 10 carries by junior quarterback Quandre Diggs and 105 yards on seven carries by senior Henry Josey. And that was with both Angleton stars seeing just limited playing time.
Angleton (6-0, 9-0) took the opening kickoff then immediately marched 64 yards on six crisp plays, drawing first blood on a 2-yard scamper by Diggs.
Diggs set up that first score on the preceding play when he stunned the Indian defense with a 39-yard run to the 2. Diggs took the snap, followed his center on a quarterback sneak, then left the Indian defenders on their game faces as he did a bunny-hop move to his left and sailed down the sidelines before being ruled out of bounds at the 2-yard line.
“Yes, that was a great run by Quandre, but we have come to expect it when he has the ball in his hands,” Vanover said. “He is a special player and we are certainly glad he is on our side.”
After the ensuing kickoff, Santa Fe looked like it might be ready to gallop right back at the Wildcats as Joseph Walton ripped off runs of 20 and 14 yards.
To say Angleton’s defense then stiffened would be an understatement. From that point on, the Indians managed a negative 14 yards the rest of the half with no more first downs.
“I am not sure our defense can play any better than it did the first half,” Vanover said. “We were swarming to the ball, which made it pretty difficult on them.”
So dominating was the Angleton defense that Indian quarterback Garet Davidson finished the first half with minus-8 yards rushing and was blanked in the passing department on five attempts, while Wildcat defensive back Roderick Butler managed to intercept a pass.
Angleton’s offense scored touchdowns four of the six times it had the ball in the opening half, while missing a 41-yard field goal and punting once.
Josey followed Diggs’ touchdown run with a 10-yard gallop to paydirt, then took it to the house from 29 yards out with 9:49 left in the half to stretch the lead to 21-0.
Donnie Foster, who peddled through the Indians for 35 yards on seven totes, closed out the first half scoring with an 8-yard run with 7:13 left until halftime.
The only score in the third quarter came on Angleton’s first drive of that half when the Wildcats caught the Indians napping. Josey took a pitch from Diggs and headed to his left, then all of a sudden stopped in his tracks and threw a pass back to Diggs, who caught the ball in the flat and never broke stride all the way to the end zone 26 yards later.
Angleton unloaded its bench in the second half as freshman T.J. Austin spent time under center. Austin and a host of Wildcat runners mainly concentrated on draining clock. The young signal caller clocked out with 17 yards rushing on five carries.
Santa Fe (3-3, 6-3) scored its two touchdowns in the final stanza as junior running back Jacob Morse stormed off the bench to bolt home on runs of 12 and 3 yards.
Morse finished with a game-high 111 yards on nine carries, all in the fourth quarter of play. Santa Fe used that fourth-quarter onslaught to finish with 174 yards on the ground, with 141 of those coming in the final stanza when the game had long been decided.
“It’s great to be district champions again,” Vanover said. “But we still have some unfinished business left. Manvel will not be any pushover next week. I know they have been up and down this year, but they have as good of athletes we will face in district.”
Beside picking up Butler’s interception, the Wildcats also gobbled up a pair of fumbles with Justin Bryant and Winston Jones doing the honors.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing: (A) Josey, 1-1-26 yards, TD; (S) Davidson, 0-5-1, Int
Rushing: (A) Quandre Diggs, 10-112 yards, 1 TD, Henry Josey, 7-105, 2 TDs, Terrance Franks, 6-43 yards; (S) Jacob Morse, 9-111, 2 TDs, Joseph Walton, 10-42 yards.
Receiving: (A) Diggs, 1-26-1 TD; (S) none.
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