Jesuit 40, Plano East 27

Rangers trim Panthers

Turnovers play huge role in keeping East winless in 2008

By Derrick Mondy
Contributing writer

Plano East entered Friday’s game with Jesuit at 0-5, and even though they fell 40-27, the Panthers played inspired football.

In a game that had its share of phenomenal plays, Plano East came up a few short.

A slow start offensively, as well as turnovers deep in their own territory, turned out to be detrimental.

East (0-6 overall, 0-2 in District 8-5A) has a bye this week and then resumes action Friday, Oct. 17 versus Wylie at Kimbrough Stadium.

The game’s first drive fully exposed Jesuit’s game plan. They fed the ball to Kyle Van de Ven, who broke for 40 yards to set up the Rangers’ first touchdown. Brent Miller then found Brian Wetzel for a 5-yard toss for a score.

Later, a special teams mishap gave the ball to Jesuit in excellent field position.

Brandon Lewis appeared to wave his teammates off as a Jesuit punt rolled along the ground. He then attempted to catch the ball as it bounced off the turf.

However, he did not field it cleanly, and the Rangers’ Brian Wetzel hopped on the ball.

The Panther defense then did a great job of stifling quarterback Brent Miller and the Jesuit offense, resulting in a Nick Tausch 20-yard field goal.

Toben Opurum then fumbled the kickoff return into the hands of the Jesuit coverage team, putting the defense in a bad position once again.

Jesuit would not be denied this time as Miller found a wide open Jake Allyn for a 9-yard touchdown pass.
Down 17-0 Plano East finally got its offense going in the second quarter.

D’Lyle Washington and Opurum found running room through Jesuit’s defense and helped the offense to put up 14 points.
The Panthers had to rely on huge third down plays on each of their scoring drives.

The first score came when Brandon Wesley found Rodney Thompson for a 56-yard touchdown strike.

Later, with Ryan Foster at quarterback, Plano East once again found itself in an unfavorable third and 32 situation.
Foster then hit Denzelle White for a 45-yard completion, which put the Panthers in position to score a second touchdown.

That happened when Foster connected with White again, this time for a 5-yard touchdown.

The Panthers had another opportunity to produce more points, as they went to their hurry-up offense with time winding down in the period.

However, the drive stalled on two incomplete passes, which were followed by an unsuccessful field-goal attempt by Daniel Coleman.

Meanwhile, the Panther defense, which played well in the second quarter, allowed Jesuit to score 10 more points.
Kyle Van de Ven, who gained 266 yards on 33 attempts, scored on a 5-yard run. Nick Tausch added a 46-yard field goal, his second of four on the night.

Plano East got 10 points in the third quarter to draw within 27-24.

Coleman started the scoring with a 27-yard field goal, and then Washington had a 10-yard scamper.

Washington finished with 15 carries for 151 yards. Opurum, had with eight carries for 57 yards.

The Panthers used both backs to keep Jesuit off balance. The explosive running of Washington allowed for the Panther passing attack to be effective.

Wesley and Foster each had a successful passing night. Wesley finished with 266 yards as he completed 8-of-19 passes with no interceptions.

Foster completed 4-out-6 passes for 62 yards and no interception.

Despite cutting the deficit to three, the Panthers got no closer, thanks to the strong running of Van de Ven, who had a 47-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.

The score came after Plano East added three points on a Coleman 19-yard field goal.

Tausch split the uprights with field goals from 51 yards and 38 yards in the final period.

Murphy Middle School
The Maverick seventh-grade B team knocked off Schimelpfenig 10-7 on Zach Edwards’ touchdown run with 49 seconds left to play.

Turnovers and a costly penalty on the opening kickoff hindered the A team, which fell 6-0. The penalty negated a return inside the Schimelpfenig 10-yard on the opening kickoff.

Each team returned to the field Monday, where the A beat Carpenter 40-6, while the B lost 13-12. Alex Wesley scored twice for the A squad, including a punt return for a touchdown.

Malik Simmons scored once on defense and on offense. Justin Garrett and Zach Edwards each scored once.
Both eighth-grade teams recently lost to Schimelpfenig, with the A going down 38-0 and the B falling 22-8.
In previous action, the B team beat Hendrick 22-0, while the A triumphed 6-0.

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