By Tim Fleischer
Editor-in-Chief
Bad snaps and turnovers plagued the Salado Eagles in their 49-30 loss to the visiting Lampasas Badgers Sept. 6. The loss drops Salado to 0-2.
The Badgers scored on their first possession, driving 70 yards in nine plays, with Reed Jerome scoring on a 23-yard run with 8:52 left in the first. Zimri Vergara toed the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
A bad snap over Lincoln Hossfeld’s head gave Lampasas the ball at the Salado 13, setting up a touchdown run by Damian Rivas.
After Lampasas recovered a Salado fumble at the Badger 37, Kenneth Angel intercepted a Jerome pass and returned it to the Badger 42.
The teams swapped punts, with the Eagles taking possession at their own 13 with 21 seconds left in the first. A bad snap left the Eagles at their own 1. Hossfeld hit Brendan Wilson in stride for a 99-yard touchdown reception with 10:58. Townes Sather converted the point-after for Salado to trail 14-7.
Following the ensuing kick, Lampasas drove 68 yards in nine plays, with Jerome scoring from the 8. Vergara’s kick made it 21-7.
Salado drove from their own 28 to the Badger 15, where they stalled. Sather toed a 32 yard field goal to close the gap to 21-10 with 2:13 left in the half.
Lampasas closed the half on the Eagle side of their field where Mason Olson intercepted a Jerome pass at the Eagle 15.
Salado got within four early in the third, driving 67 yards in nine plays. Hossfeld ran behind 6’7” tackle Daniel Flas for a 15-yard TD with 8:44 left in the third. Sather made it 21-17.
The Eagles forced Lampasas to a three-and-out series, but the Badgers took advantage of a fumbled punt to recover the ball at the Salado 17.
Rivas scored from there and Vergara made it 28-17 with 7:08 left in the third.
The Eagles answered, driving 67 yards in six plays. Hossfeld ran a 10 yard touchdown with 5:10 left in the third. Sather kicked the PAT to close the score to 28-24.
Lampasas recovered the onside kick and drove 53 yards, scoring on a 29-yard pass from Jerome to Bryson Roberts. Vergara kicked the extra point to give Lampasas a 35-24 lead with 3:57 left in the third.
Lampasas had a 52-yard scoring drive, topped by an 8-yard run by Jerome with 15 seconds left in the third and a 42-24 lead.
After stopping the Eagles on a fourth down try, the Badgers scored on a 24-yard Jerome pass to Ty Johnson and Vergara kick for a 49-24 lead with 9:54 left to play.
Salado answered with a 60-yard drive, that was almost stopped dead in its tracks when Jaden McElwan intercepted a Hossfeld pass. They interception was overruled by a roughing the passer call, giving Salado a fresh set of downs. A pass interference call in the end zone gave the Eagles the ball at the 1 and Hossfeld dove in from there to score with 7:41 left to play. A two-point try failed, bringing the score to 49-30.
The Eagles forced Lampasas to kick and drove from their own 29 to the Badger 25, but an incomplete pass on fourth down turned the ball over and the Badgers ran out the remaining 3:08.
Hossfeld was 9-of-22 passing for 214 yards and a TD. He led the Eagles in rushing with 112 yards on 21 carries and three TDs. Jackson Turk had 54 yards on 16 carries.
Brendan Wilson led the receivers with 104 yards on two passes and a touchdown. Gabriel Merriman followed with 86 yards on five receptions and Turk had a 22 yard catch.
Jerome was 13-of-21 for 133 yards passing for the Badgers
Rivas led the Badgers, carrying the ball 22 times for 132 yards. Jerome followed with 117 yards on 10 carries.
Johnson had five catches for 72 yards. Bryson had six catches for 68 yards.
Salado travels to Giddings 7:30 p.m. Sept. 13 to face the 1-1 Buffaloes in a non-district game.