ROYSE CITY — The Royse City Bulldogs are in their fourth season as a Class 4A school district.  After last Friday night’s 14-9 victory over the Mount Pleasant Tigers the Bulldogs will make their third trip to the UIL Texas State High School Football Playoffs.

Royse City had to win last Friday night’s game against Mount Pleasant to advance.  The Bulldogs came into this game much more confident, but also with a respect for their opponent.  That was the difference maker in this game; however with fewer turnovers the Bulldogs could have made a much louder statement.  But playing in a stress filled game it is more than expected that some mistakes can be made and as long as Royse City won the turnover battle they could win this game.  They did just that as Mount Pleasant lost one fumble and also tossed four interceptions in this game.  The Bulldogs also lost a fumble, but tossed three interceptions.

Regardless of the turnovers, the Bulldogs were the superior opponent in this game and it was evident on both sides of the ball.  The Bulldog defense may have shined the brightest in the game, but still the offense was on fire at times and very hard to stop.

Bulldog senior Ryon Perry literally picked up where he left off last week against Greenville.  Perry, our Player of the Week against Greenville, kept the Bulldog hopes alive when he recovered a squib kick-off in the final seconds of the game to help secure the Royse City victory over the Lions.  Against Mount Pleasant and on the first play of the game the ball was knocked loose from a Tiger runner and Perry picked up the fumble and returned it to the Tigers 17 yard line.

The Bulldogs did not score on that possession, but on their next quarterback Wes Brookshire escaped the grasps of several Tigers to ramble 32 yards for a touchdown with just 10:19 remaining in the first quarter.  The extra point attempt was blocked and the Bulldogs took a 6-0 lead.

This night belonged to the Bulldog defensive tackles and nose-guard.   Darrien McQueen, Joshua Martinez and Jared Loftis camped out in the Mount Pleasant backfield in this game and did nothing but trip up, take down, move backwards and disrupt.  You might say they were being very unruly to our neighbors from Mount Pleasant, but that’s the way football goes.

With the Tigers moving to the Bulldog 3 yard line with first and goal to go and not even half of the first quarter elapsed, the troublesome threesome made their move and pushed the Tigers back to the 15 yard line.  The Tigers attempted a fake 33 yard field goal and passed to the endzone where Bulldog Cavyn Pence was there to make the first interception of the game.

Royse City moved to the Tiger 43 before they lost their first interception followed by another interception turnover to the Tigers early in the second quarter.  But the Bulldogs would not let the Tigers get the upper hand and at the 5:34 mark of the second period, Bulldog Vince Jones intercepted a Tiger pass and this turnover turned into points for the Bulldogs when Royse City capped off an eight play 54 yard drive with a 26 yard touchdown pass from Brookshire to Michael Webb.  Samuel Rushing added a two point conversion run and the Bulldogs had scored all the points they would need, with a 14-0 lead at the 3:00 mark of the second period.

Royse City however would score a safety for Mount Pleasant on the last play of the first half following the Bulldogs third pass interception by Cansas Estep.  That interception gave the Bulldogs a first and 10 inside their own one yard line.  A mishandled snap resulted in two points for the Tigers and the halftime score would read 14-2.

The only other points would result after a 63 yard interception return by D’Quane Hines set up a two yard touchdown pass from Andrew Flanagan to A.J.Hughes.  The extra point kick was good and the Tigers trailed 14-9 with 2:57 to play in the third period.

Vince Jones would make his second interception of the game as Mount Pleasant tossed up a desperation pass late in the game.

The Bulldogs will travel to Sulphur Springs this Friday night for the final game of the regular season.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30.  At this time the opponent for Royse City for the Bi-District Championship has not been determined.



Players of the Week

 

Offensive Player of the Week



The entire Bulldog offensive line did a great job this past week keeping an aggressive Mount Pleasant defense off out of the Bulldog backfield.  Nic Gillis (6’4” 300) , Clay Damron (6’3” 295), Justin Campbell (6’1” 240), Cameron Cleveland (6’5” 240) and Aaron Reavis (5’11” 165).  There are other offensive linemen that see action as well and they need to be mentioned because some of those players are often in with different formations.  Joel Dunn, Jerrad Dooley, Tyler Harper, Dylan Gibbs, Devin Howard and Alfred Haumpy, all are offensive linemen that never get the recognition they truly deserve every week.  Many offensive POTW could not attain those stats without the offensive line.

 

Defensive Player of the Week



I have three very deserving defensive linemen that receive our POTW award.  Darrien McQueen, Joshua Martinez and Jared Loftis accounted for five sacks in last week’s game for a total of 43 yards in losses.  For the year, senior McQueen has 31 tackles and six sacks, senior Martinez has recorded 3.5 sacks and 27 tackles and sophomore Loftis has 39 tackles with 2.5 sacks. The Bulldog defense held Mount Pleasant to only 20 yards rushing and 150 yards passing in the game. Royse City also had one fumble recovery and four pass interceptions. McQueen, Martinez and Loftis should be counted on as difference makers this week against Sulphur Springs and throughout the playoff season.