It was the third game of the season for the Anahuac Panthers and the first for the Bridge City Cardinals. Both teams were looking for their first win of the season. It was Anahuac which pulled out its initial victory of the year 28-21 in overtime on Friday night at Bridge City’s Larry Ward Stadium.
The Panthers are now 1-2. The Cardinals are 0-1 with their district schedule starting next week.
Anahuac appeared to have the game in the bag with a seven-point lead and possession of the football with only 4:40 to play. Facing fourth-and-one at their own 30 the Panthers elected to go for the first down with the hope of securing the win. The Cardinals’ defense made a tremendous stop dropping Jemaj Bailey for a yard loss.
Bridge City despite the great field position could not take advantage of it and turned the ball over on downs using up two minutes on the clock. Anahuac then shot itself in the foot with a major penalty which pushed them back to the 14 and were forced to punt from the eleven.
Because of a penalty on the return the Cardinals started at their own 44. Quarterback Ethan Oceguera passed 14 yards to Joey Murty for a first down. On third down Oceguera threw long to the right side where Austin Richardson had got behind two Panthers to make the catch and jog the last five yards for a dramatic 42-yard touchdown with 1:17 left in the fourth quarter. Oscar Carranza added the point after and the game was tied 21-21.
The Panthers fumbled their next possession and Bridge City’s Trey Hebert recovered the ball at the Anahuac 32. The Cardinals needed to nudge the ball a little closer to give Carranza a shot at a game winning field goal, but lost yardage on first down and then a penalty moved them beyond realistic range for an attempt at a kick which forced the overtime.
The overtime coin toss was won by Bridge City which elected to go on defense initially. Anahuac needed only three plays to score as Christian Sanchez ran 22 yards to the three before scoring on the next play. He added the kick to make the score 28-21.
The local Cardinal fans were on their feet enthusiastically screaming on the first play for Bridge City in the overtime. Oceguera scrambled out of the pocket and then threw long to a wide-open JT Fielder in the end zone. The only problem was Oceguera had passed the line of scrimmage before he released the football which wiped out the touchdown.
An incompletion and a short run by Oceguera setup fourth-and-seven for Bridge City. The Cardinal quarterback tried a pass over the middle which was intercepted by the Panthers’ Zyon Clark to end the game.
The first quarter was scoreless with limited offense by Bridge City. Anahuac had two long plays a 28-yard pass completion and a 44-yard run by Bailey, but failed to put any points on the board.
The Cardinals scored first on a twelve-play, 69-yard drive. Oceguera found Fielder for a 21-yard pass completion that got the Cardinals moving to midfield. Oceguera then hooked up with Murty for another first down to the Panther 22.
The duo that scored the last Cardinals’ touchdown got the first one as Oceguera made a perfect pass that Richardson hauled in with a defender right on him. Carranza’s kick made the score 7-0 with 7:21 left in the first half.
Following the kickoff Anahuac marched 83 yards in 16 plays. The Panthers which were guilty of ten penalties in the game for 90 yards committed three procedure penalties during the drive which they overcame.
Quarterback Landon Corbitt scored on a sneak with eleven seconds remaining in the half. Sanchez tied the game as the two teams went to the locker room.
Picking up where they left off at the end of the first half, the Panthers scored on their first possession of the second half with Corbitt passing 30 yards to Clark for the touchdown. Two possessions later Anahuac made it a two-score game with Sanchez scoring on a 10-yard run changing the scoreboard to 21-7 with 9:39 left in the game.
Taking advantage of a major penalty by the Panthers on the kickoff the Cardinals started their next possession at the Anahuac 35. Six plays later Oceguera scored from the two to pull Bridge City within seven points which led to the dramatic final six and a half minutes.
Oceguera finished the night with 11 completions out of 20 passes for 155 yards. He was the leading rusher for the Cardinals with 60 yards on 17 carries. Richardson had three receptions for 78 yards and the two scores.
Sanchez led all ball carriers with 18 carries for 117 yards and two touchdowns. Corbitt completed 5 of his 9 passes for 110 yards.
District 11-4A begins action next Friday night. The Bridge City Cardinals actually have a bye so they will not play for another two weeks. Their first district opponent will be the Hamshire-Fannett Longhorns at Bridge City on October 2.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
Photo by Jarrod Brown
Anahuac 0 7 6 8 7- 28
Bridge City 0 7 0 14 0- 21
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