Bonham -- Maybe it came down to a desperate fourth-down pass by the Sanger Indians deep in Warrior territory that a diving Wade Hayes knocked away. Maybe the difference was that Bubba Scott ran wild in the first half behind a blue-collar offensive line that earned your respect every play. Or maybe it was something Justin Owen told his teammates while they stood at midfield before the game ever started.
“I told them I was tired of people talking about us,” Owen, a Warrior quarterback that has battled leukemia for two years, said later as he watched the game from the sideline. “I told them from now on we dominate.”
For the first half, Justin, your boys backed up every word.
Bubba Scott scored on an 18-yard pass and a 40-yard run in the first quarter and then Zach Lappin went in for six points after picking off an errant Sanger pass early in the second stanza. Bonham dominated a good Sanger squad 22-0 in the opening moments of the Purple Warriors’ home opener Friday night.
The Warrior defense played well early, too, with big plays by Jameison Patterson and Lafayette Dunlap to go along with a fumble recovery and a fourth-down stand.
Sanger’s offense puts all their eggs in one basket, but if that is your strategy then Indian quarterback Chris Higgs is the guy you want carrying the basket. Time and again Higgs sliced into the heart of the Bonham defense and lived to talk about it. The run-and-gun Sanger QB gave the Warrior secondary the best workout they could hope to see before traveling to Commerce next Friday night.
Higgs lit up the Sanger side of the scoreboard with three and a half minutes remaining in the first half when he connected with another skilled Indian, wide receiver Michael Cruz, for a long TD pass.
Bonham came right back when Patterson followed his blockers around left end for a 12-yard gain. Scott raced 52 yards to paydirt on the next play and a pass from Washington to Patterson for two points made it 30-7.
Sanger retaliated when Higgs hit Nick Brittain with a 30-yard scoring strike.
Patterson pulled up on a sweep around left end and dropped a pass over the safeties to a wide-open D.J. Stewart for a 40-yard touchdown, sending the teams into the locker room with Bonham leading 36-15.
Sanger’s Nathan Peques scored on a 16-yard run in the third period to trim the lead to 36-21 entering the fourth quarter. The Indians tacked on another touchdown two minutes later, making it a 36-29 game following the two-point conversion.
Bonham’s offense was held in check late in the game and Sanger’s Peques got around the right corner for 38 yards. Higgs made it count when he dropped a pass into the hands of a Sanger's for a 12-yard TD. Trailing 36-35, Sanger went for a two-point conversion that would give them the lead. The Indians tried a reverse and it looked open until Hayes tackled the runner at the one-yard line, preserving the lead.
The Bonham offensive line gave Scott an opportunity to pick up a couple of first downs and the clock seemed to be running out on Sanger when a fumbled exchange gave the Indians new life at the Bonham 45-yard line with 2:45 showing on the clock. A screen pass moved the ball down to the 25-yard line, but the drive stalled as the defense stiffened. On a fourth-and-25 from the Bonham 21-yard line, the Sanger quarterback rolled out to his right end then threw back across the middle. An Indian receiver was there, but Hayes turned in his best play of the night when he raced in to knock down the pass and give Bonham the ball back.
The Warriors ran out the clock for a one-point win and now Bonham gets ready for Commerce, a team Bonham hasn't beated in over a decade.
"That's a good team over there," Bonham head coach Larry McFarlin said in reference to a solid Sanger squad that made opening night very interesting.
