Bracken Christian started their season with a win over Temple Holy Trinity to the tune of, 54-24.
“Our guys executed and started off like they should have,” Head Coach Hosea Stredic said. “It was all about execution.”
It was music to the Warriors ears as Cristian De Leon opened the game with a 48 yard kick off return as BCS used that score and added two more for a 24-0 first quarter lead.
More music to the ears came at the sound of watching Carlos Navarro complete 7 out of 8 scores with extra point success that can many times spell doom or victory in 6-man games.
Daniel Forgione also was a first chair recipient as he returned to Bracken’s sideline after a one year absence by finishing with 2 touchdowns and 144 yards rushing.
Some rookies also played their horns well, as Presley Day finished this ensemble with 208 rushing yards, capping it off with a 74 yard touchdown run putting him with a good group of accomplished Warrior rushers.
Player Yds Game Year
1. Grady Achilles 78 Austin Hill Country 2010
1. Eli Achilles 78 SA Winston 2012
3. Presley Day 74 Temple Holy Trinity 2015
3. Noah Boriack 74 San Marcos Home School 2013
5. Grady Achilles 71 Emery-Weiner 2011
6. Noah Boriack 70 Austin Veritas 2014
6. Austin Wilkinson 70 New Braunfels Christian 2011
The music was not only played by the offense but the defense also hummed a couple of bars as newcomer Cade Middleton finished with 9 tackles and Day put 8 Temple players to the ground.
Noble Simmons not only had a sack, but he caused a fumble on the play and recovered the ball to complete the stanza.
“I believe the Defensive End is the most important position on defense,” Coach Stredic stated. “We are in trouble if the DE cannot keep the play going to the inside….it is not their job to get tackles.”
Another player that did not have a lot of time on the field was Senior Joshua Chu, but this young man made every play count as he had two tackles in a row for lost yardage.
“Chu, is our secret weapon,” Coach Stredic said strategically. “He came in and gave guys a breather.”
The maestro (Coach Stredic) was also waving his hands on the sidelines helping the participants to be sure to not miss a note, as this tune had all the parts playing and singing in unison.
On Bracken’s first drive, the Warriors took 4 plays to score with Forgione toting the ball for 71 yards on the drive with one play covering 58 yards to help relieve the pressure.
More of the same on Bracken’s next possession when Brady Beene sauntered in from 10 yards out to finish the 52 yard drive and increase the Warriors lead to, 24-0.
From there, BCS, hit some rough edges as penalties helped in having some promising drives to stall.
Temple then opened their second half with 49 yard drive on 9 plays to get on the board. Alternating with 4 passes and 5 running plays kept the Warriors guessing wrong and giving up that first score.
Day got better as the day turned to night and was 35 yards of the 45 yards totaled in the next drive.
Forgione intercepted a Temple pass on the next series of downs and BCS took 6 plays to score when Beene found De Leon for a 7 yard pass helping Bracken to enjoy their largest lead of the night, 38-6.
Do a little math and you will see how important having Navarro on your team.
The 8 touchdowns resulted in 14 extra points that in the past 4 years being successful on the pat has not been a given.
Temple Holy Trinity was 0fer on their point after attempts and those 14 points might not mean much in a game like this, but for future reference, those points will be gold when you are playing teams that every point is important.
With 4:00 minutes left in the game was when Day decided to turn out the lights on Temple when he scampered 74 yards for the, 54-18 score deep in the fourth quarter.
Bracken did a lot of things well for this first game of the season and now will see if they can continue to grow and mature as a team.
“We came out like we wanted to and did not run a whole lot of plays,” Coach Stredic closed. “We stayed in a tight offense for much of the game and played them straight up.”
The Warriors district is one of the toughest in the state and each game will be a test tube experiment on how to proceed with your goals in tact.
The music was nice on this night as the crescendo matched the anticipation as another year has started and knowing how this piece of music will end is anybodies guess at this point, but for this night it was music to the ears!
Go Warriors!!
1 2 3 4 Final
Temple Holy Trinity 0 0 12 12 24
Bracken Warriors 24 0 14 16 54
Scoring Summary:
BCS-Cristian De Leon 48 yard kick-off return (Carlos Navarro kick), 9:48, 1st
BCS-Daniel Forgione 13 yard run (Carlos Navarro kick), 5:41, 1st
BCS-Brady Beene 10 yard run (Carlos Navarro kick), 0:00, 1st
THT-11 yard run (pat failed), 6:11, 3rd
BCS-Daniel Forgione 10 yard pass from Brady Beene (Navarro kick), 5:23, 3rd
BCS-Cristian De Leon 7 yard pass from Brady Beene (pat failed), 2:56, 3rd
THT-65 yard run (pat failed), 1:33, 3rd
THT-13 yard run (pat failed), 7:01, 4th
BCS-Presley Day 19 yard run (Carlos Navarro kick), 6:02, 4th
BCS-Presley Day 74 yard run (Carlos Navarro kick), 3:54, 4th
THT-20 yard pass (pat failed), 0:02, 4th
Game Stats Temple Warriors
Total Yards 275 442
First Downs 8 11
Rushes/Yards 27/199 33/390
Comp/Att/Int 10/19/1 5/8/0
Passing Yards 76 52
Punts/Average 4/40.8 0/0
Fumbles/Lost 2/1 3/2
Penalties-Yards 3-30 10-87
Passing Comp Att Pct Yds TD Int
Brady Beene 5 8 .625 52 2 0
Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD
Presley Day 15 208 13.9 74 2
Daniel Forgione 12 144 12.0 58 1
Brady Beene 3 26 8.7 16 1
Cristian De Leon 1 4 4.0 4 0
Joshua Chu 1 4 4.0 4 0
Cade Middleton 1 4 4.0 4 0
Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD
Cade Middleton 1 22 22.0 22 0
Daniel Forgione 2 20 10.0 10 1
Cristian De Leon 2 10 5.0 7 1
