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Cranes surge past 'Cats
Published November 16, 2007
SAN ANGELO The Crane Golden Cranes took advantage of three fumbles, three interceptions and a blocked punt to roar back from a 14-7 halftime deficit and rout the Comfort Bobcats 50-21 in the opening round of the Region I-2A (Division II) playoffs Thursday night at San Angelo Stadium.
Comfort, the second-place team from District 8, opened the scoring with a six-play, 83-yard drive. Senior wide receiver Vance Lich caught a short pass from senior quarterback Travis Chrisman in the left flat, broke free and raced 52 yards down the sideline to the end zone.
The high-octane Crane offense responded, using only four plays and just over a minute and a half to go 58 yards and tie it at 7-7. Junior quarterback Lloyd Chisum found a wide-open Jordan Cavazos in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown.
After the quick start, both defenses began to gain the upper hand. Crane got a big break at the 5:10 mark of the second quarter when junior linebacker Justin Carrasco picked off a Chrisman pass and returned it 67 yards for an apparent touchdown.
But a block in the back penalty negated the return and set up the Golden Cranes with a first down at their own 41-yard line. Three plays netted nine yards and Chisums sneak on fourth down was stopped short, turning the ball over to the Bobcats at their own 49-yard line.
Seven plays later the Bobcats faced a fourth-and-4 from the Crane 26-yard line. Chrisman threw to an open Scotty Richter in the end zone for a 14-7 lead with 18.5 seconds remaining in the half.
Comfort opened the second half with some trickery, coming close to recovering an on-side kick, but the ball trickled out of bounds before the Bobcats could recover.
Crane answered with trickery of its own as wide receiver Tyler Esparza took a pitch from Chisum, rolled right and threw to a wide open Justin Carrasco for a 36-yard touchdown.
On the ensuing Comfort possession, senior linebacker Homer Marquez broke through to block the Bobcat punt and set up Crane with a first down at the Comfort 15-yard line. Two plays later, sophomore running back Teague Esparza rolled left dove across the pylon to give Crane a 21-14 lead with 7:51 remaining in the third quarter.
The Bobcats answered, knotting it at 21-21 on a 3-yard pass from Chrisman to sophomore receiver Will Pace with 4:13 remaining in the third quarter.
Crane got a pair of big plays to start a scoring barrage. First, Tyler Esparza nailed a 54-yard punt that the Cranes downed on the 1-yard line. Three plays later, Chrisman fumbled and Kurtis Frymire recovered to give Crane a first-and-goal from the 8-yard line.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Jordan Mendoza bulled in from two yards out to give Crane a 28-21 and start a scoring avalanche.
In less than six minutes the Cranes would roll off 29 points and turn a close contest into a blowout.
Two plays later, Crane again came up with magic as Carrasco picked off a screen pass at the 18-yard line. Chisum hit Carrasco from four yards and again on a two-point conversion to stretch the lead to 36-21 with 9:03 to play.
Comfort again turned it over on second down, this time fumbling at its 48-yard line. The defense held, but on fourth down the Bobcats fumbled the punt return and Crane had a first down at the 12-yard line.
Chisum hit Carrasco for the third time to push the lead to 43-21 with 6:11 to play and, after holding Comfort on downs, Cody Black ran in from 28 yards away to end the scoring with 5:14 to play.
District 7 champion Crane, a winner of nine consecutive games, will face the winner of the Haskell vs. Coleman game next weekend.
CRANE 50, COMFORT 21
Crane Comfort
First downs 14 12
Rushing Yards 185 105
Passing Yards 84 193
Total Yards 269 298
Comp-Att-Int 7-18-0 13-30-3
Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-3
Penalties-yards 5-40 7-40
Punts-avg. 3-41.0 2-36
Score by quarters
Crane 7 7 7 29 50
Comfort 7 0 14 0 21
Scoring
Comfort Vance Lich 52 pass from Travis Chrisman (Miguel Lozano kick).
Crane Jordan Cavazos 25 pass from Lloyd Chisum (Daniel Padilla kick).
Comfort Scotty Richter 26 pass from Chrisman (Lozano kick).
Crane Justin Carrasco 36 pass from Tyler Esparza (Padilla kick).
Crane Teague Esparza 7 run (Padilla kick).
Comfort Will Pace 3 pass from Chrisman (Lozano kick).
Crane Jordan Mendoza 2 run (Padilla kick).
Crane Carrasco 4 pass from Chisum (Carrasco from Chisum pass).
Crane Carrasco 12 pass from Chisum (Padilla kick).
Crane Cody Black 28 run (Padilla kick).
Individual statistic leaders
Rushing: Crane Mendoza 12-85; Comfort J. Frank Derby 9-45.
Receiving: Crane Carrasco 6-81; Comfort 5-98.
Passing: Crane Chisum 6-17-0 48; Comfort Chrisman 13-30-3 193.
Records: Crane 10-1, Comfort 7-4.
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