BANQUETE, Texas — In a game riddled with penalties and turnovers, the Taft Greyhounds (3-4, 2-1) left Banquete (2-5, 0-3) with a Game Night South Texas Victory, 13-2.
It wasn't until the first drive of the third quarter, Taft quarterback David Davis Jr. rushed in from a yard out for the game-winning touchdown.
Taft had the best chance to score in the first half on their first drive of the game. The run game was working with JJ Ozuna and Davis' mobile ability. However, they turned it over on downs deep in Bulldog territory.
And then, Chaos took over late in the first quarter. Taft's quarterback Aiden Flores, would pick up a first down keeping the ball to himself, but was stripped and turned it over.
However, the very next play, Davis had a bad exchange with his running back and the Bulldogs got the ball back.
Banquete fumbled the ball four times in the first half, losing three of them. Taft threw an interception on top of their fumble.
Neither team could move the ball either because of turnovers or they dug themselves a hole with penalties, causing long yardage to make the line to gain.
Keeping with the theme of chaos, Banquete's defensive line caused a lot of it, getting to the backfield on most of Davis' drop-backs. On a particular play late in the second quarter, Taft had the ball with a second down and 20 yards to go. Banquete's Adrian Gonzalez got home with the strip sack. Bulldogs couldn't recover. That's when Taft's JJ Ozuna picked it up, looped around and somehow scrambled to pick up the first down. But of course, the drive died soon after due to penalties.
It was a scoreless game at halftime.
Out of the break, Taft looked good running the ball again, but two consecutive illegal procedure penalties looked to doom them again. That's when Davis turned a broken play into something, flipping the ball towards the sideline for Justin Martinez. He juked his way down to the one yard line.
Following that drive it was three straight series with a turnover.
Taft picked up momentum sporadically throughout this game. It was a big run here or even a blocked punt, but the drive always stalled.
With a minute left in the game, Banquete tried a late game push, but Flores' pass was intercepted and returned to the Bulldogs five yard line. That allowed Davis to find pay dirt once more.
The game seemed to be over, but the extra point was blocked then returned by Abraham Chapa for their only points of the game. But getting the ball back, the stadium felt the Bulldogs momentum arise once more.
A turnover on downs ended any hope left for Banquete.
Taft picks up their second win in 3A-DII District 16. They'll get Santa Rosa at home on Oct. 18.
Banquete has to bounce back to keep any playoff hopes alive. The challenge is stiff as they still have the top two teams in the district left to play. They will travel north to George West on Oct. 18
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