The El Campo Ricebirds, for the second year in a row, saw their season come to a dissapointing end in the bi-district round of the state playoffs as they fell to Calallen, 27-14, on Friday night in Calallen.
“They came out and did some things we hadn’t seen in that first half and it took us a little bit of time to get adjusted to it,” said El Campo head coach Travis Reeve, whose Ricebirds dropped the final four games of the season just like last year to finish the season at 6-5. “The kids fought back. We had opportunities to get right back in it and make it a game, but we just had some things that went against us that put us out of position. Credit them. ”
The Wildcats, who improve to 9-2 on the season, scored three touchdowns in the first quarter to quickly jump out to a 21-0 lead before El Campo got on the board with 10:23 left in the second quarter on a three-yard run from Vlad Garcia following a 25-yard fumble return by Jonah Poenitzsch.
Calallen answered with their fourth touchdown of the game with 8:12 left in the half, but the extra point was blocked keeping the score at 27-7.
The ‘Birds then got a 10-yard run from Kylon Taylor to cap an 11-play, 75-yard drive with just over two minutes left in the second frame to cut the lead down to 27-14 at the half.
Calallen quarterback Connor Klostermann had a hand in all four Wildcat scores, tossing a seven-yard touchdown pass to Larry Saenz for the first score and rushing for the other three— one from 14 yards out and the other two from a yard out.
Neither team managed to hit paydirt in the second half as the Wildcats held on for the 13-point victory.
“I’m really proud of our kids and this season. We had some games that didn’t go the way we wanted them to, but this group kept coming back.” Reeve said. “They left it all on the field and there’s no shame in that. I love these guys and are very proud of them.”
