Zach Willis runs for the first Buckaroo touchdown of the night. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
For the second week in a row, the Breckenridge Buckaroos faced a tough opponent on the football field and came away with a loss. And, like last week, the Bucks showed some improvement over their game against the same team last year.
The final score Friday night was Breckenridge 20, Mineral Wells Rams 41. In 2016, the score was 13-58 in favor of the 4A-1 Rams, a team that the Abilene Reporter News’ Evan Ren called the 2017 Buckaroos’ “second straight monster opponent.”
Mineral Wells came into the game following a win over Bridgeport, 47-33, on Sept. 1 in Mineral Wells. In Breckenridge, they scored six times in 11 possessions. The Rams scored twice in the first quarter, once in the second quarter, twice in the third quarter and once in the fourth quarter.
The Buckaroos first score came with 9:12 left in the first half as Zach Willis made the touchdown run. The extra point attempt was blocked.
Lonnie Hinson catches a pass for the final Buckaroo touchdown in the game against the Mineral Wells Rams. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Shortly after the beginning of the fourth quarter, Owen Woodward made a touchdown, and Jose Escalon’s kick was good for the extra point. Ten and a half minutes later on the clock, with 0:31 left in the game, the Buckaroos scored again with a Lonnie Hinson touchdown and another good kick by Escalon.
On the field after the game, head coach Casey Hubble attributed the loss to errors on the Buckaroos’ part.
“Mistakes against a good football team just suck the life out of us. The first two drives were great football mixed in with mistakes, and when you give a team that’s got some really good athletes, like they did… when you give them chances after chances, it’s hard to just keep stopping them,” he said. “So, mistakes, you can’t make them. You’re not going to beat good football teams and make mistakes, and we made too many.”
With the Bucks earning 14 more points this week than they did last week, Hubble acknowledged some positives in the game. “(The Buckaroos) executed the offense from time to time, but we still keep shooting ourselves in the foot. There were some good things there with moving the ball, but we’re not good enough to go beat good teams yet,” he said.
Mishandled balls and turnovers were some of the big mistakes of the night. “Gotta catch the football. Gotta have a good snap and catch the football, and put it in the pocket,” Hubble said immediately after the game.
The Buckaroos now turn to preparations for next week’s game against Eastland, a team that could be another tough foe. The Mavericks beat Clyde Friday night, 35-6, their second big win of the season.
The 3A-2 team has a long history of victories over Breckenridge, with the Buckaroos’ last win coming in 2010. During the past six years, the Eastland Mavericks have made it to the quarterfinal championship game three times, regional twice, and area once (last year).
The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, in Eastland’s Maverick Stadium.
Click here to see more photos from the game in the Breckenridge Texan gallery.
Story by Tony Pilkington; Carla McKeown contributed to this story.
Cutline, top photo: Kyler Knight, at left, celebrates as Owen Woodward scores the Buckaroos’ second touchdown Friday night. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
