Hondo Anvil Herald

Short fields propel Somerville past D’Hanis

 

     Luling -- Four takeaways and a big-play return game carried Somerville to a 45-0 bi-district overpowering of D’Hanis Friday evening, Nov. 15.

     The Yeguas (10-1) earned the win at Eagle Field in the Conference 2A-Division 2 contest, and will advance to a Friday, Nov. 22 area matchup with Ben Bolt.

     D’Hanis finishes the year at 4-6, including a fourth place finish in District 14-2A-II.

     The 14-2A-II champion, Junction, will take on Falls City in a 7  p.m. Friday game at Barry Field in Hondo. Brackett, the 14-2A-II runner-up, will take on Shiner in the area round, Friday at Jourdanton.

     Somerville began its final five scoring drives of the night in D’Hanis territory, starting at the 28, 35, 18, 9 and 31 yard-lines.

     Their first drive of the game was their best sustained march of the evening, going 61 yards in nine plays after taking the opening kickoff. Ja’Keith Daniels got the touchdown on a 28-yard run, with Keith Crawford adding a two-point conversion from the swinging gate formation.

     After an intercepted pass, the Cowboys got the ball right back, with Joe Ruiz recovering a Yegua fumble at the D’Hanis 21. The Cowboys picked up a couple of first downs behind the rushes of Kade Hendry and Cannon Zachry. But the drive stalled and the Cowboys had to punt. 

     Midway through the second period, Somerville quarterback Ian Teague ran for 30 yards to the 1, setting up a QB sneak on the next play. Hendry broke up the two-point conversion pass attempt.

     Just before halftime, the Cowboys converted a fourth down on a pass from Aaron Chapman to Kase Braden. A pass to Zachry set up a first down at the 14, but an interception three plays later was returned 57 yards to the D’Hanis 28. 

     Two keepers later, Teague scored from 19 yards out. The PAT from Ulisses Perez put the Yeguas up 21-0 with 14 seconds in the half. 

     An interception on the Cowboys’ second play of the third period set up a 35-yard scoring drive for Somerville, with Daniels scoring from the 4-yard line for a 28-0 lead.

     Crawford returned a D’Hanis punt 34 yards to the 18-yard line, setting up another short TD drive, with Teague sneaking it in to make it 35-0.

     After an exchange of punts, a D’Hanis fumble inside the 10-yard line set up a short field for Somerville, with the score coming on a three-yard pass to Crawford on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

     Midway through the fourth quarter, Perez launched a 45-yard field goal to complete the scoring.

    Chapman returned the ensuing kickoff across midfield, and a pair of 14-yard runs from Hendry had the Cowboys at the 16. The drive stalled and Hendry came in to try a 40-yard field goal of his own. It came up short, with Crawford returning it all the way to the endzone. An illegal block on the Yeguas negated about half of the return, and Somerville ran out the final few minutes of the game.