3A roundup: Defense aims to drive Graham's success

Graham’s offense can’t possibly be as explosive as it was last year.

But after one week the Steers’ defense, which was the unheralded backbone of the 2009 state finalists, looks to be just as miserly.

That unit picked up Friday where it left off in 2009 during a 10-9 victory over Mineral Wells that gave Kenny Davidson his first win as Graham’s head coach.

Veterans David Guinn (11 tackles against the Rams), Sheldon May (10 tackles) and Brian Sides (eight tackles and an interception) are bent on not allowing a drop-off from last season’s group, which surrendered only 15.6 points per contest.

All of Graham’s points against Mineral Wells were set up by turnovers. Sophomore Jerrod Mahan returned his first-quarter interception 60 yards to the Rams’ 1-yard line, leading to Blaine Clay’s touchdown.

And Devon Daume, another sophomore who was called up to the varsity the day before the game, snagged an interception that set up the go-ahead field goal.

“We have our mainstays — there are five guys who played last year,” Davidson said of Guinn, May, Sides, Kyler Schierger and Sheldon May. “If we can get some of these other guys going, that’s going to help us.”

The Steers’ offense only gained 205 yards — totals that were accumulated by halftime in Case McCoy’s senior year. The running game only churned out 97 yards on 34 carries.

Davidson expects the offense to eventually find its footing, but more struggles are possible with road trips to No. 1 Brownwood and No. 6 Abilene Wylie the next two weeks.

While it was a nice start for Davidson, the victory was especially sweet for kicker Karl Baker, who nailed the winning points on a 24-yard field goal in the second quarter. Baker struggled at the end of last year, missing a PAT in the 3A state championship game that Graham lost, 13-12.

“He took a lot of heat last year in the state game, but he had a chance to redeem himself,” Davidson said. “This is huge for his confidence. You couldn’t write a better story.”

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Iowa Park was the only other District 6-3A representative to win its season opener.

The Hawks’ defense spearheaded the 31-14 road victory by forcing three turnovers in Pampa territory that were turned into touchdowns.

“I was real excited with how the defense played. They did a wonderful job,” Iowa Park coach Scott Ponder said. “Offensively, I thought there were a lot of things we need to clean up. We were pretty good, but there are areas we need to improve in.”

Linebackers J.D. Cuatt and Kolby Watson, as well as defensive end Kelby Tucker, earned high grades from the coach.

Ponder will make his home debut Friday against Pilot Point.

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Burkburnett coach Scott Boswell said one point of emphasis this offseason was developing the Bulldogs’ passing attack.

Quarterback Canon Cornelius rushed for more than 1,300 yards in 2009, but he had as many 100-yard passing games (two) as zero-yard games.

The senior quarterback finished the 59-35 loss to Wichita Falls High School by completing five of 14 attempts for 106 yards, but Boswell knows his stats could have easily been doubled.

The normally sure-handed Temi Ogunleye dropped what would have been a touchdown on a backside post, and Devin Chaffin also let a long gainer slip though his hands.

Two other times Burkburnett receivers had multiple steps on WFHS defensive backs without safety help, but Cornelius’ deep balls were a bit underthrown.

“He was trying to place the ball instead of just throwing it,” Boswell said of those near-misses. “When the opportunity arises, we have to take advantage. (The passing game) is something that we worked real hard on this spring and summer.”

Boswell said the Coyotes exposed some of Burkburnett’s weaknesses, but with nine defensive players making their varsity debut, some growing pains are to be expected.

“There’s no panic,” he said. “We need to be doing the right things in the right spots. We were our own worst enemy in certain situations, and we have to fix that.”

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Hirschi quarterback Trey Thomas won’t miss this week’s game against Ponder.

Thomas left Friday’s 38-6 loss to Sanger in the third quarter, but Hirschi coach Neil Searcy said his exit was precautionary.

“We really think he got hit on the elbow on a nerve,” Searcy said. “He lost the feeling in his hand. He wanted to go back in.”

Searcy didn’t come up with many positives in a game that Sanger took over with a 24-point second quarter. He thought the Huskies had played better in their scrimmages.

“We had several missed tackles and didn’t execute on the offensive side of the ball,” he said. “There was something on every play. There wasn’t a play where we ran everything right, but we’ll clean some of that up.”

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Vernon and Bowie had a couple similarities in their season-opening losses last Friday.

One was too many turnovers. Both teams threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles.

The other was an inability to stop the run. The Jackrabbits allowed 236 rushing yards on 39 carries (a 6.1-yard average) in a 29-19 loss to Fort Worth Christian.

The Lions didn’t fare much better, giving up 259 yards on the ground on 48 attempts (5.4-yard average) in a 27-13 loss to Sweetwater that spoiled new coach Andy Correll’s debut.