Goldbugs take a big win on the road against Thomas
September 3, 2017
THOMAS, Okla. – After a slow start for the Alva High School Goldbugs against the Thomas Terriers, Alva pulled out the big win over the Terriers for the 49-7 victory.
The Goldbugs struggled early as they began the game with first possession but were forced to give the ball back to Thomas after going three and out to punt the ball away on a fourth-and-1.
The Terriers saw a lot more success in their first possession of the night as they followed a 3-yard quarterback keeper up the middle with a 14-yard pass to put them just outside of Goldbugs territory at the 47-yard line. Despite that good start to the drive, Thomas only got as far as Alva's 48-yard line, as the Goldbugs' defense brought them to a standstill to force them to punt the ball away.
Alva had an uphill battle as they began their second drive deep in their own territory on the 7-yard line with 8:13 left in the first quarter. That long stretch didn't faze the Goldbugs, however, as they began the possession with a short pass to Davion Murrow, who made the catch and ran all the way to the 42-yard line.
Though Alva's first play of the drive looked promising, the momentum quickly shifted as quarterback Mitchell Meyer overshot Murrow on the intended pass. Murrow tried to reel in the catch but his outstretched hand tipped the ball in the air, giving the Terriers the interception as they began on their 37-yard line.
This led to Thomas' first and only score of the night as they began the scoring drive with an 18-yard run up the middle for a new set of downs.
The drive ended with a 36-yard quarterback keeper up the right side to give Thomas the first score of the night and, after the successful extra point, an 0-7 lead over Alva.
Alva got their chance to answer back with 4:46 left to go in the first quarter, as they started their drive from their 35 after a fair catch from Lane Scarbrough on the kickoff return. Despite the good field position, Alva was forced to move back 10 yards after a holding penalty put them on the 25-yard line.
With first-down and 20 yards to go to keep the drive alive, Meyer began with a short pass to Murrow for a gain of 9 to put the Goldbugs nearly back to their starting position. After an incomplete pass on the next play, Meyer opted to run the ball on their third attempt for a gain of 9, putting Alva in a fourth-down situation with 2 yards to go from the 43. Alva, needing to come up with a response to the Terriers' earlier touchdown, opted to go for it on the fourth-down, and Meyer found sophomore Reece Martin open in the middle for a 15-yard gain, putting Alva in Thomas territory.
Tensions ran high after the completion of the next play, as Meyer scrambled left to avoid the passing rush, ran the ball to the left side line and suffered a late hit from Thomas's outside linebacker. Alva would have had possible extra yardage for the late hit, but retaliated; a scuffle ensued on the Goldbugs' sideline and officials ejected Alva's middle linebacker, Arturo Cisneros.
After the ejection of an important key player for the Goldbugs, sophomore Dalton Hess came in to shoulder that linebacker position on the defense for the rest of the game.
Despite that slight set-back, on a first-and-10 from Thomas' 22-yard line Alva responded with a pass completion to Murrow in double coverage; he broke free from the defenders and got the touchdown. After the successful point-after attempt from Cameron Gordon, Alva tied the game at 7-7 with 2:23 left in the first.
Frustrations from the previous possession on Alva's sideline were still running high during Thomas' possession, and two quick penalties were called on the Goldbugs to put the Terriers on Alva's 44-yard line. Despite the good field position, Thomas only got as far as the 28-yard line, facing a fourth-down situation with 4 yards to go. Thomas' quarterback threw the ball right into Alva's lineman, Scarbrough, who is credited for the pass deflection and forcing the turnover on downs and giving the Goldbugs possession.
With 10:18 left in the second quarter, Alva started the drive from their own 28.
The Goldbugs marched down the field as Thomas made costly penalties that helped put Alva on the Terriers' 24-yard line. After Hess took the hand-off up the middle all the way to the 8-yard line for a 16-yard gain, the Goldbugs had an easy straight shot to the endzone, and two plays later they celebrated their second touchdown off a 1-yard run up the middle from Meyer, bringing their lead over Thomas to 14-7.
The Goldbugs weren't finished in the first half; they scored twice more to lead Thomas going into halftime.
Meyer picked up another 1-yard rushing touchdown to lead the Terriers 20-7 after the missed extra-point from Gordon.
With just 3:31 left to go in the half, Thomas decided to try for a fourth-down conversion, but Hess – coming out of that middle-linebacker position – stopped the Terriers' quarterback in the back field to force the turnover on downs, and Alva took over on Thomas' 27.
With over a minute left in the half, Alva had plenty of time to increase their lead. They ended the scoring drive on a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Faulkner, to lead Thomas 28-7 at the end of the second quarter.
It was a back-and-forth struggle between Alva and Thomas for most of the third quarter, but Thomas was the first to flinch as they were forced to punt the ball away deep in their territory, giving Alva great field position.
Starting the drive from Thomas's 41-yard line, Alva's quick and mobile quarterback, Meyer, was able to find a hole in the Terriers' defense and ran the ball in for a 31-yard touchdown run (his third rushing touchdown of the night), bringing Alva's lead to 35-7 with 2:16 to go in the third.
Alva cruised to their victory as they tacked on two more touchdowns in the fourth, starting with a 34-yard rushing touchdown from Murrow bringing the lead to 42-7. Freshman Stephen Willyard picked up the final touchdown from 4 yards out, giving Alva a final score of 49-7.
Stats
On the offense, Meyer led the Goldbugs from the back field, leading in rushing yards with 113 off 15 carries for three touchdowns to go with his 10 completed passes out of 16 for 148 yards, one interception, and a touchdown.
Murrow had 57 yards off eight carries in the rushing game for one touchdown, along with six receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown. Hess tacked on another 45 yards rushing off four carries, while Faulkner got his first career touchdown with two catches and 14 yards. Martin finished with two catches and 29 yards.
For Alva's defense they gave up just 106 yards on the ground and just 19 yards in the air as they held Thomas to just one touchdown and picked up one interception from freshman Gavin Perez and a forced fumble.
Other big contributors were Samuel Toone (16 tackles), Hess (12 tackles), Murrow (10 tackles), T.W. Beiswanger (10 tackles), Daniel Toone (8 tackles), Darian Malone (7 tackles), Scarbrough (7 tackles), Dawson Manning (6 tackles), Faulkner (2 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) and Martin (1 tackle).
Alva had 436 all-purpose yards against Thomas' 125. The Goldbugs finished with 288 yards rushing with five touchdowns and 148 yards through the air with two touchdowns.
Up next, the Goldbugs (2-0) will host their first home game at Ranger Field as they face-off with the OBA Trojans (1-1) on Sept. 8 for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
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