Bracken Crowns the Knights, 68-48
Bracken Christian might have just played an opponent they might meet again
in the playoffs in the next couple of months. The depth and conditioning finally gave the Warriors the separation needed for a hard fought win at the Warrior Field last Friday night.
Bracken amassed the most yards in the short history of the school with 583 total yards. The rushing and passing totals ranked second in both categories and by looking at the outcome, every yard was needed.
BCS entered the fourth quarter with a slim four point lead as the Knights had closed the halftime deficit by eight points. Senior Grady Achilles started where he left off last season with a solid 265 yards rushing and 55 yards from the sky, with a kickoff return for dessert. With the returns the, what are you going to do for an encore, running back went over 400 yards by himself.
Of course, the by himself line could not be any further from the truth, as the rest of the team certainly helped in slowing down the Knights which enabled the Warriors to win the game.
Sophomore Arnold Adame was one of the surprises from out of the gates. Three catches with a 35 yard touchdown along with one rush for 21 yards gave the Warriors a good idea of some of the youth coming up.
Austin Wilkinson also contributed by playing in his first 6-Man football game as a Senior.
The depth is what added up for an offensive explosion that topped the OLH game from last season.
The defense was abused by the passing game and that word needs to be used lightly. The passing for the Knights looked more like a shot putter from the track season that finished four months ago. Regardless on how the ball gets into a receivers hands, the pass still needs to be defensed better as the season continues.
“They (Austin Hill Country) completed more dump passes, but they had the same players from last year,” Senior Grady Achilles said. “They just executed better.”
The pass had the Warriors guessing for much of the game.
“We will need to go back to the practice field and see who covers who with our defensive ends,” Achilles continued. “This game compared a lot like our games with OLH, it was a scoring battle.”
The victory tour that was started last year was based on take-a-ways and not having penalties.
Both items were not at their best for the game, even though Peter Corey made a tip interception at the end of the game that was a sight to behold.
The Warriors now have won 15 games in a row and are on a crash course against another team that plays an Independent schedule that has matched the same winning streak.
Something will have to give and the coaches will want to see the improvements from week one to week two. Especially with the defense.
“Eli (Achilles) will move around as the x-backer,” Grady Achilles finished. “The x-backer has a free rush and tries to get to the ball and break down the ball flow.”
Eli Achilles finished with 16 tackles while Peter Corey chipped in with 10. Six players had positive yardage in the game which speaks for the depth for Bracken.
The race has now begun for another run for the State title. Austin Hill Country gave the Warriors a good barometer reading for the first of the year.
The key stat of the game was in the fourth quarter, where the Warriors were crowned victors by keeping the high powered Knight offense from the end zone.
1 2 3 4 Final
Austin Hill Country 16 16 16 0 48
Bracken Christian 22 22 8 16 68
Scoring Summary:
BCS-Grady Achilles 60run (pat failed), 9:48, 1st
AHC-Austen Smith 60run (Monteiro kick), 8:30, 1st
AHC-Cole Bland 2yd pass from Smith (Monteiro kick), 5:20, 1st
BCS-Ehren Jacobson 1yd run (Kevin Knapick kick), 3:37, 1st
BCS-Grady Achilles 37yd pass from Eli Achilles (Knapick kick), 1:20, 1st
AHC-Smith 12yd run (Monteiro kick), 9:32, 2nd
BCS-Grady Achilles 80 kick return (Knapick kick), 9:18, 2nd
AHC-Shane Jasek 14yd pass from Smith (Monteiro kick), 6:02, 2nd
BCS-Arnold Adame 8yd pass from Eli Achilles (pat failed), 3:58, 2nd
BCS-Grady Achilles 65yd run (Knapick kick), 0:12, 2nd
AHC-Brandon Simpson 17yd pass from Smith (Monteiro kick), 8:49, 3rd
AHC-Bland 25yd pass from Smith (Monteiro kick), 2:45, 3rd
BCS-Grady Achilles 10yd run (Knapick kick), 9:52, 4th
BCS-Ehren Jacobson 3yd run (Knapick kick), 5:10, 4th
BCS-Grady Achilles 10yd run (Knapick kick), 0:00, 4th
Team Stats: Knights Warriors
Total Yards 473 583
First Downs 15 16
Rushes/Yards 20/154 39/417
Comp/Att/Int 20/33/1 10/15/0
Passing Yards 319 169
Fumbles/Lost 2/0 0/0
Punts/Average 1/20.0 0/0
Penalties-Yds 3-15 6-60
Passing Comp Att Pct TD Int
Eli Achilles 6 9 .667 2 0
Grady Achilles 4 6 .667 0 0
Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD
Grady Achilles 20 265 13.3 65 4
Eli Achilles 10 84 8.4 18 0
Austin Wilkinson 5 38 7.6 27 0
Arnold Adame 1 21 21.0 21 0
Ehren Jacobson 3 9 3.0 4 2
Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD
Grady Achilles 2 55 27.5 37 1
Eli Achilles 3 51 17.0 32 0
Arnold Adame 3 45 15.0 35 1
Peter Corey 1 14 14.0 14 0
Austin Wilkinson 1 4 4.0 4 0