Salado pounds out 442 ground yards, but Taylor takes home win

By Tim Fleischer Editor-in-Chief

Even with 442 yards on the ground, the Salado Eagles fell to the Taylor Ducks at Eagle Stadium Sept. 21 for a 25-35 Homecoming loss.

Taylor scored first, after forcing Salado to a three-and-out series and getting excellent position due to a shanked punt of 15 yards. Jason Martinez dove in from the Salado 2 on a second down and goal with 6:00 left in the first. RYan Hanson’s kick made it 7-0.

Salado took the lead in the second quarter by scoring on a 27 yard run by Connor Cook to cap a 54 yard drive with 9:47 left in the first half and then scoring on a 50 yard run by Wrook Brown with 7:21. Neither PAT was good, but Salado led 12-7.

The Ducks answered with two touchdowns in the final 4 minutes. Cole Harms hit Sammy Sanchez for a three yard TD to top a 70 yard drive. Harms hit Josh Blue for a two-point conversion and 15-12 lead.

Taylor forced Salado to another three-and-out series and then drove 40 yards in two minutes to score on a two yard dive by Martinez. A kick gave Taylor a 22-12 halftime lead.

The Eagles took the second half kick off and marched 75 yards in 14 plays before Hutton Haire hit Hunter Turk over the middle for a 14 yard touchdown on fourth down and 4 to go. Brown kicked the PAT to narrrow the lead to 19-22.

Taylor answered with two touchdowns in quick order. The DUcks went 70 yards in eight plays before Martinez scored on a six yard run with 4:40 left in the third, The PAT was wide and Taylor led 28-19

The Ducks added seven more after falling on a Haire fumble at the Eagles’ 35 yard line. Martinez polished the ball to the 26 and Harms found Santiago Estrada for a TD with 2:48 left in the fourth. The kick made it 35-19.

In the fourth, Hanson buried Salado at their own 15 yard one with a 44 yard punt. THe Eagles took just over three minutes to score, this time on a 6 yard run by Cook. With 7:13 left to play. The PAT failed and Salado trailed 25-35 with just over 7 minutes left in the game.

Haire was caught in the backfield and thrown down for a loss, fumbling the ball over to Ja’ron Carver with less than 4 minutes remaining, dashing any hopes of a comeback for Homecoming,

The Eagles had three running backs with over 100 yards: Connor Cook, 171 yards on 20 carries; Hunter Turk, 148 yards on 20 carries and Wrook BRown, 124 yards on 23 carries. Haire completed one pass for 15 yards to Turk.

For Taylor, Martinez had 113 yards on 19 carries. Harms was 21 of 28 passing for 238 yards, Blue caught 10 passes for 124 yards