A long hard season came to a thrilling end for the Bridge City Cardinals Friday night. The Cardinals rallied in the fourth quarter, but came up short 37-28 against the Stafford Spartans at Ray Maddry Memorial Stadium in Channelview.
Stafford (10-3) with the win advances to the Regional Finals next week. Bridge City (9-3) concludes the season as Area Champions to go along with their District 10-4A championship.
Trailing 31-14 entering the fourth quarter the Cardinals answered with two scoring drives to cut the lead to three. Byron Trahan connected with Patrick Morris for 13 yards and a first down. Morris then gained another first down with a 13-yard run which had a face masking penalty tacked on to give Bridge City a first down at the Stafford 15. Three plays later Max Baker got the touchdown with second effort from the five. The point after made the score 31-21 with 8:43 to play in the game.
The Spartans appeared to be driving for a clinching score of their own, but Hunter Denton made a spectacular interception in the end zone to give the ball back to the Bridge City offense with just over three minutes to play in the contest.
With time a factor the Cardinals had to abandon their favorite run game. Trahan twice completed passes to Chase Boneau the tight end for first downs, one for 12 yards and the other for 20 yards. Trahan had probably his best game of the season throwing the football 6 of 14 for 101 yards and a touchdown.
A blocking penalty on the second reception moved the ball back to the Bridge City 46. Hunter Denton had not run the ball all night or even caught a pass to that point. Denton took a handoff to the right found an opening and put on his track speed outracing the Spartans’ secondary to the end zone for an amazing 54-yard touchdown. The Cardinals had cut the lead to three with just under two minutes left in the game.
The Bridge City defense did what it needed to do forcing a three and out by the Spartans. The Cardinals took the ball at their 26 with just 15 seconds left.
Trahan had two incomplete passes including a bomb intended for Denton that was batted away. On the last play of the game Trahan rolled to his right wanting to throw deep, but as he was preparing to heave it long he was hit from behind and the ball went up in the air where it was snatched by Stafford’s Kameron Hill at about the 20 who jogged into the end zone with clock and the season running out for Bridge City.
Bridge City won the toss and took the ball to start the game. The Cardinals marched down the field in nine plays using almost five minutes to take the first lead of the game. It was a typical Cardinals’ drive initially as eight running plays setup third-and-eight from the Stafford 11. Trahan looked over the middle and hit Boneau with a strike at the goal line for the touchdown. Brogan Brown added the point after to Bridge City a 7-0 advantage.
It would take Stafford only 74 seconds to tie the game. Thousand-yard rusher James Brown carried for 21 yards on the Spartans’ first play. Cameron Montgomery then swept left end for 54 yards to the one. Quarterback Walter White snuck over from there and Kirvin Bonilla kicked to tie the game with 5:51 left in the first quarter.
On their second drive the Spartans used a truly balanced attack executing 14 plays. White completed three passes to Jalen Curry for 40 yards. White ran three times for 28 yards. The Bridge City defense held at its own nine. Bonilla kicked a 26-yard field goal to give Stafford its first lead of the game 10-7.
Then it was Bridge City’s turn to do one of its patented time consuming marches. The Cardinals used 18 plays and over eight minutes off the clock to drive 82 yards. Trahan and Boneau hooked up again for a key first down pass of 12 yards near midfield.
Then it was back to the ground game. Patrick Morris had runs of 12 and 18 yards, the later giving Bridge City a first and goal at the Stafford 5. Two running plays only netted two yards, but a facemask penalty on the Spartans gave the Cardinals a first-and-goal at the one. The third time was the charm for Trahan on the quarterback sneaks as he got his team leading thirteenth touchdown of the season. Brown’s point after with 1:35 left in the half put the Cardinals up 14-10.
The Spartans again went into acceleration mode and needed only five plays to retake the lead. Montgomery gobbled up a first down with a 13-yard run to Bridge City 36. After short run by White, he hit Hezekiah Jones on a post pattern at the goal line for a 32-yard touchdown pass. The kick by Bonilla made the score Stafford 17-14 with just 49 seconds left in the half. Bridge City could only get to midfield before the first half clock ran out.
Scoring on two of its first three possessions in the second half the Spartans opened up a 17-point lead. White passed 8 yards to Brown for one score, and Brown had his longest run of the night for 27 yards to give Stafford a 31-14 lead with 3:52 to play in the third quarter. Bridge City would make a game of it in the fourth quarter, however.
Stafford advances to the fourth round of the state playoffs next week where they will play Carthage.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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