Breckenridge Texan

By Tony Pilkington and Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

For the second week in a row, the Breckenridge High School Buckaroos lost to their football opponents 0-13 on Friday night. After traveling the 100 miles to Ballinger on Sept. 4, the Buckaroos held the Bearcats to only 13 points but failed to score any points themselves.

Buckaroo Damion Mendez gains some yardage in Friday night’s game against the Ballinger Bearcats. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

After receiving the kickoff, the Buckaroos fumbled on the third play of the game. That led to Ballinger’s first score with 9:41 on the clock. The extra point made the score 0-7.

Then, a minute and 49 seconds into the second quarter, the Bearcats scored again. When the extra point failed, the score was 0-13 with 10:11 left in the first half.

Both teams were scoreless in the second half, and the final score of the night was 0-13 in favor of Ballinger.

“We’ve got to improve as a football team. The long and short of it is that – we’ve got to improve as a football team, and I don’t know if we made much progress tonight,” Head Coach Casey Pearce said on the field immediately after the game.

In analyzing the game, he said, “Too many penalties, couldn’t tackle, didn’t block the point of attack, didn’t handle adjustments very well offensively. It’s a growing process, a learning process, but we’ve got to get better.”

Breckenridge quarterback Henry Johnson hands off the football to running back Jerry Lawson. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Pearce said the team practices and knows what to do but lacks consistency. “Too many highs, too many lows. We have got to get to where we can do things consistently right,” he said. “(We have an) inability to execute under stress. We’ve got to get better at that, and this coaching staff is going to get them better.”

The team has made progress since they started practicing this summer. The athletes and coaches are on-board with the team’s plan but still need to work on their execution, the coach said.

“We’ve gotta see some things that we worked four days in a row on get reflected in a ball game,” he said. “You can drill all you want, but it’s got to show up in an 11-on-11 situation.”

He said he expects to see improvements next week. “It better get addressed, and it better be reflected next week,” Pearce said. “Otherwise, we got a long night ahead of us. The Cisco Loboes are coming to town. (They’re) a very physical football team.”

Next Friday, the Buckaroos will play their first home game of the season. They will take on the Cisco High School Loboes in Buckaroo Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 11. Tickets for the game will go on sale on the Breckenridge ISD website at the following link on Monday, Sept. 7: Breckenridge High School Online Ticket Sales

The Loboes are 1-1 for the season after winning their first game at home against the Clyde Bulldogs, 14-39, and then losing to the Wall Hawks, 14-35, in Wall on Sept. 4.

Last year, the Loboes beat the Buckaroos 19-40 in Cisco. The records show that the Loboes have come out on top of every battle with the Buckaroos since 2012 (the two teams didn’t play each other in 2013). Cisco is in Conference 2A, Division 1, District 4, with teams including Coleman, De Leon, Goldthwaite, San Saba and Winters.

The 3A-Div. 1, District 3, Buckaroos will begin district play on Oct. 9 in Clyde against the Bulldogs.

The Breckenridge band and color guard perform for fans Friday night. During the football game in Ballinger, the Buckaroo band sat in folding chairs rather than in the stands due to social distancing requirements. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

The varsity cheerleaders lead Breckenridge fans in cheering on the Buckaroos in Ballinger’s Bearcat Stadium on Friday night. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Cutline, top photo: Buckaroo Tristan Jones tackles Carter Arrott with the Ballinger Bearcats during Friday night’s game in Bearcat Stadium. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)