Cleburne falls to Joshua for first time since 2004

By Jennifer Tavlian/sports@trcle.com

Cleburne knew it was facing a tough Joshua team, but didn’t know how strong the Owls would be until the Jackets faced a 35-14 deficit at halftime before ending the game with a 38-22 loss.

“Our team played their hearts out and I’m so proud of them,” Cleburne head coach Phil Young said. “I give a lot of credit to Joshua. We knew they were good. I think the people around the community get into that mode sometimes of not realizing how good Joshua is because Cleburne beats them so often. But they were good this year. They have a very good ball team and they’re well coached.”

Young noted that the Jackets didn’t help themselves, turning the ball over five times and racking up 105 yards in penalties, including six personal foul calls worth 15 yards each.

Joshua ended an 8-play, 55-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Hickerson from Austin Neal with 8:03 left in the first quarter.

Scotty Walden answered with a 13-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Thomas four minutes later, and Trace Turner’s extra point evened the score at seven.

After a couple of passes fell incomplete for Joshua on its next possession and the Owls were faced with a third-and-11 on their own 44-yard line, Cleburne was whistled for a personal foul. The Owls took advantage of the 15-yard spot and after a couple of short runs, Jon Blair burst up the middle for a 38-yard touchdown run.

Cleburne fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Joshua recovered on the Jackets’ 40-yard line. The Owls moved systematically downfield, picking up eight yards on a run by John Savage and a first down on a 10-yard run by Blair. Savage rushed for 17 yards on the next three carries to put Joshua down on the 5-yard line. Tag McNeel’s 4-yard run took the Owls to the 1-yard line before Neal ran in the score with 10:39 left in the second quarter to extend Joshua’s lead 21-7.

Four minutes later, with the help of another 15-yard penalty by Cleburne, the Owls scored again on a 1-yard run by Blair. Neal’s extra point put Joshua ahead 28-7.

Anthony Crowder caught a 46-yard bomb from Walden with 4:43 left in the first half, capping a 5-play, 73-yard drive.

The Owls took the lead into halftime after a 12-yard run by Blair with 22 tics left on the clock.

Both teams held each other scoreless in the third quarter. Neal hit a 25-yard field goal early in the final frame and Walden ran in a 1-yard score before connecting with Thomas on the 2-point conversion with 6:52 left in the game to make the score 38-22.

“We couldn’t stop them for a while and we couldn’t get the ball in the end zone for a while,” Young said. “When it comes down to it, they made some plays in the first half and got ahead of us and things went against us a little bit. But I love my boys and I’m so glad to be part of the Cleburne Yellow Jacket family and live in Cleburne, Texas. I give a lot of credit to Phil Shaffer and his group. They did a nice job.”

With 23 seniors on the Yellow Jacket roster, Young said it would have been nice to send the upperclassmen on with a win. But he also said the team is proud of the season they put together. A 5-5 record gives the Jackets their first non-losing season sine 2002 when the team went 6-5.

“We played some good football this year,” Young said. “We had a phenomenal senior class. If our underclassmen will work like our seniors have the past year and a half, there will be great things happening in the next two years. The mantle has been passed on to those guys and we’ll see what they do with it. These seniors couldn’t have left with better heart, better effort and better work. I would have given anything I could to get them a win tonight, but it just didn’t happen.”