Defensive miscues, coupled with missed opportunities by Hays offense in the first half, plagued the Rebels in their 56-21 loss to the Judson Rockets in the 6A Region IV Bi-District matchup at D.W. Rutledge Stadium last Friday night, bringing the Rebels’ 2019 season to an end.
“They (Judson) are a quality football team, with a great storied tradition here and lots of talent,” Hays head coach Les Goad said after the game. “But, bottom line is we gave up some drives there ear...
Defensive miscues, coupled with missed opportunities by Hays offense in the first half, plagued the Rebels in their 56-21 loss to the Judson Rockets in the 6A Region IV Bi-District matchup at D.W. Rutledge Stadium last Friday night, bringing the Rebels’ 2019 season to an end.
“They (Judson) are a quality football team, with a great storied tradition here and lots of talent,” Hays head coach Les Goad said after the game. “But, bottom line is we gave up some drives there early that we couldn’t get the turnover. Then offensively we had some drives and some near passes that missed. Later in the game we hit those, but we didn’t hit them early enough.”
Judson’s potent offensive attack, led by quarterback Mike Chandler II and running back De’Anthony Lewis, jump started the Rockets to a 28-0 lead by halftime. Chandler connected on two passing touchdowns in the first half, with an 11-yard pass to receiver Antony Shelton and a 16-yard completion to Davion Wilson, while also scoring with his legs on a 4-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. In addition, Lewis gashed the Rebels’ run defense for 82 yards on nine carries, with an 11-yard score in those first two quarters of play.
While Hays defense was struggling to make stops, its offense couldn’t get enough momentum to turn drives into points to counter the Rockets offense. Judson’s stout run defense held Hays to 31 rushing yards on 20 carries in the first half, effectively taking the Rebels out of their comfort zone and forcing a predominately run heavy offense to pass the ball more frequently.
“It’s a game of momentum, and the question of how you gain momentum is you make plays,” said Goad. “You’ve got to make those plays. We took some shots, wish we could’ve connected on those early. But, real proud about the way we fought.”
In the third quarter the Rebels were able to hit some explosive plays in the passing game as quarterback Durand Hill completed touchdowns passes of 61 and 58 yards to receiver Bryant Lewis. But, the big scoring plays for Hays were too few and far between to catch up to Judson’s offense as Chandler and Lewis each scored a rushing touchdown in the quarter, with Lewis’ coming on a 23-yard run and Chandler’s on a 5-yard keeper.
“He hit some big passes, especially in the second half,” Goad said about Hill and the offense. “We threw some of those passes early in the game too, it was just near misses. We ran some option early, and we were hitting on that quite a bit. And I think the other pieces were going to fall in place if we could’ve kept hitting those passes.”
Hays would go on to score another touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard run by running back Christian Garcia, but the game had already fallen out of reach as Judson led 56-21.
Hill finished the game completing nine passes for 261 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Lewis hauled in three catches for 149 yards and two scores. The Rebels rushing attack was held to 66 yards rushing on 35 carries.
For Judson, Chandler ended the game with 128 yards passing and two touchdowns on nine completions, while also contributing seven carries for 38 yards and two scores. Lewis led the Rockets in rushing with 14 carries for 125 yards and two touchdowns runs.
“I saw a lot of fight, the players they just kept fighting,” Goad said. “Kept persevering and had some adversity. Some near misses. If you connect on this, or connect on that, or make this play and make that play, early especially it might of made a bigger difference. But they kept playing hard and made some big plays. I’m just real proud of their effort.”