Jackets fall on the road to Trojans

WACO — The Cleburne Yellow Jackets dropped their sixth straight game in District 16-4A play Friday night at Waco ISD Stadium, as Waco University came away with a 41-6 win.

The loss drops the Jackets to 3-6 overall, with an 0-6 mark in district heading into Friday night’s season finale against Corsicana at Yellow Jacket Stadium.

The Tigers are now 4-5 overall and 2-4 after a 49-20 loss on Friday night against Waxahachie.

With the victory, Waco University broke a seven-game losing streak and improved to 2-7 on the season, with a 1-5 record in 16-4A.

“You don’t like to lose,” Cleburne head coach Phil Young said. “It just hurts real bad for the kids. It’s the same thing we’ve had the last few weeks. We’ve got some young kids playing making young mistakes. You can’t get too down on them when they do that. They’ll fight hard. We want to have a great week of practice. We want our seniors to really have a lot of leadership this week and our juniors to play for our seniors so they can have a great last week.”

The Trojans took the ball to open the contest and covered 93 yards in eight plays, with Tyrell Hackworth scoring on a 6-yard run with 8:40 remaining in the first quarter. The extra point gave University a 7-0 lead.

Cleburne answered with a nine-play drive that took 5:31 off the clock, but the Jackets were forced to punt from midfield on fourth and nine.

University drove down the field again, covering 83 yards on 11 plays.

The drive was capped by a 17-yard touchdown reception from Randy Price to DeMarcus Hicks with 11:52 remaining in the second quarter to make it 14-0.

On a first down after a roughing the punter penalty, Desmond Wilson intercepted Ty Taylor’s pass and raced into the end zone, but a personal foul call on the Trojans put the ball back at the Cleburne 47.

The Trojans extended the lead on an 11-yard pass from Price to Vincent Finley with 7:25 to play in the first half. The extra point failed, leaving the score at 20-0.

The Jackets started the next drive at the Trojans’ 27, but Cody Hicks had carries of 14 and 12 yards to move the ball to the Jackets’ 47.

The Trojans’ defense stiffened and forced another Cleburne punt. University covered 72 yards in seven plays, with Hackworth scoring on a 3-yard run with 2:19 to play in the first half to give the Trojans a 27-0 lead.

Cleburne failed to pick up a first down and the Trojans took possession at midfield.

University covered 50 yards in four plays, with DeMarcus Hicks catching an 11-yard touchdown pass from Price with two seconds remaining in the first half, stretching the lead to 34-0 at the break.

Price was 12-of-12 passing in the first half.

The teams traded punts to open the second half and Cleburne faced a fourth and short on its second possession of the half, but Taylor fumbled the ball and was tackled for a seven-yard loss to give the Trojans the ball on the Cleburne 30.

The Trojans took advantage of the short field, as Price tossed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Finley to stretch the lead to 41-0 with 6:49 left in the third quarter.

Cleburne broke into the scoring column with 9:03 left to play in the contest as Taylor scrambled from the right side of the field to the left before lofting a 19-yard touchdown pass to Semaj Holderness on a fourth and three play.

The touchdown capped a 36-yard drive by the Jackets’ offense.

Taylor completed 11-of-19 passes for 93 yards and the touchdown to Holderness. Cody Hicks was the Jackets’ leading rusher with eight carries for 23 yards.

Cleburne finished the game with 23 carries for four yards.

Bubba Oakes caught three passes for 37 yards and Justin Gauntt added two receptions for 22 yards.

“Our coaches will coach their tails off and I know we’ll have a great game plan,” Young said. “The players will play their tails off, too. We just want to end on good note. It’s a great group of young men. It’s just a shame that we can’t win a few more games.”