Breckenridge Texan

At times Friday night in Early, it was difficult to determine which was the bigger battle, that between the Breckenridge Buckaroos and the Early Longhorns or the one between the fans and the officials. But, after the referee had a Buckaroo fan removed from the stands just before the end of the first half, everything quieted down somewhat for the rest of the evening, and the Buckaroos won their first district game of the season 35-14.

“I’m proud of our effort,” Breckenridge Head Coach Casey Hubble said after the game. “We’ve given good effort. Last week we gave great effort, not near as many mistakes. You just gotta not put calls in officials’ hands and keep it in our hands. I never seem to be satisfied, but always happy when we win.”

Breckenridge’s first points on the scoreboard came from a safety less than two minutes into the game. They upped the lead to 9-0 about halfway through the first quarter when Kevin Franco scored a touchdown and Justin Bell kicked the extra point.

Early answered a minute and a half later with a touchdown of their own, taking the score to 9-7 with 3:23 left to go in the first quarter.

That was all of the scoring in the first half, but not the end of the excitement. As Buckaroo fans became increasingly unhappy with the officials’ calls, they got more vocal. With less than a minute left in the half, the referee had a Breckenridge fan ejected from the stands.

Breckenridge Buckaroo Angel Ruiz scored three touchdowns Friday night against the Early Longhorns. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

When the two teams returned to the field after halftime, the fans were quieter, and the Buckaroos started a scoring streak that would last throughout the third quarter. At 8:53 on the clock, Angel Ruiz scored a touchdown and Bell kicked the extra point.

Less than a minute later, Jonas Arellano intercepted a Longhorns pass and ran 42 yards for another touchdown. The kick was blocked, and the score, with 7:21 to go in the third quarter, was 22-7 in the Buckaroos’ favor.

Another 7 points were added to the scoreboard when Ruiz and Bell scored again at 5:28. Three minutes later, Ruiz scored the Buckaroos’ final touchdown of the night. That kick wasn’t good, and the score was 35-7 with 2:35 left in the third quarter.

Breckenridge kept Early scoreless in the third quarter, but the Longhorns made one final touchdown about halfway through the fourth quarter.

The final score was Breckenridge Buckaroos 35, Early Longhorns 14.

Jonas Arellano ran in a 42-yard touchdown after intercepting a Longhorns pass. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

“Our running game was pretty good,” Hubble said. “I think we should have had more points than that, but we had so many penalties that it kept us from completely pulling away. But, we had a good run game.”

After the game, Hubble said that there were fewer penalties in the second half, allowing the Buckaroos to score more and run the clock down some. As the team prepares for this week’s game, Hubble said, they need to work on not getting as many penalties.

“Well, first thing in the morning is we’re going to go in and try to figure out how to eliminate mistakes and not get penalties, you know, and not do things that cost our team and see if we can roll into that thing hitting on all cylinders,” the coach said Friday night.

On to Wall

On Friday, Nov. 2, the Buckaroos travel to Wall to play the Hawks. Wall is located just outside of San Angelo in Tom Green County.

The Wall Hawks are currently leading the district with a record of 3-0 in district play.

In recent years, Breckenridge has played Wall twice in play-off games. In 2013, they played in the bi-district game, with Wall winning 42-18. Two years earlier, Wall won in the area play-off 56-14.

Last year, Wall made it as far as the regional play-off before losing to Brock High School.

District Standings

With only two more district games to go this season, the teams of District 3-3A, Division 1, line up as follows:

For more photos from Friday night’s game, click here to go to the Breckenridge Texan photo gallery.

Story by Tony Pilkington and Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

Cutline, top photo: Kevin Franco (No. 5) made the first touchdown for the Breckenridge Buckaroos against the Early Longhorns on Friday night. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)