It could have been worse.
Much worse.
Alan Haire could have kept his starting backfield in for the second half.
The refs and time clock could have stopped during the fourth quarter.
Thankfully for the visiting Austin Travis Rebels, Coach Haire did call of the dogs in the third quarter and the refs and timekeepers all agreed to let the clock run.
Despite that, the Salado Eagles beat the Travis Rebels 50-0 on Sept. 13 to improve to 2-1 on the season. The Rebels are winless, having won their last varsity football game on Sept. 22, 2017.
The Eagles got off to a somewhat slow start, after forcing the Rebels to a three-and-out series. The Eagles fumbled on their first drive to turn the ball over and then the defense forced Travis into its second punt.
Wrook Brown, who only saw action in the second half as the kicker, took the first first handoff of the second series and dashed through the Travis defense for a 71 yard touchdown at 5:53 in the first. Brown finished the night just short of 100 yards with 97 yards on eight carries and two TDs. Brown connected with Noah Mescher for a two-point conversion and 8-0 lead.
After the Salado defense forced another three-and-out series (seven altogether on the night), Mescher scored on a 34 yard run to top an eight play, 75-yard drive for the Eagles. Brown toed the extra point for a 15-0 lead.
Lucas Morvant sacked Steven Lopez to set up the next three-and-out series and Salado’s next TD. The Eagles ate up 59 yards of their brand new artificial turf and Reid Vincent scored on a five yard run with 8:51 left in the half. Brown’s kick made it 22-0.
Peyton Miller had a sack in the next series for Salado and the Eagles drove 68 yards in three plays with Mescher covering 52 of them in two carries. Vincent scored on a 16 yard run with 5:58 left in the half. Brown kicked for a 29-0 lead.
Salado gave up a rare first down before forcing a punt with under three minutes left in the half. Josue Loza fell on a snap over the head of the punter to give Salado the ball at the Travis 7 yeard line. Two plays later, Brown dove in from the 2 yard line with 1:32 left on the clock. He kicked the PAT for a 36-0 lead.
Travis got across midfield for the first time in the game with just seconds left in the half, but Latrell Jenkins stepped in front of a pass and returned the interception 90 yards for a touchdown with no time left on the first half clock. Brown kicked the PAT for a 43-0 lead.
The Eagles received the second half kick off. On second and 9, Chris Bates bulled through the defense and sprinted toward the goal line for a 56 yard touchdown with less than a minute ticked off the third quarter clock. Brown’s kick made it 50-0, at which point Haire’s boys took control of the clock for the remainder of the game.
Toward the end of the third, Travis threatened to score with a successful drive of 10 plays but Rebel running back Darien McFerrin fumbled into the end zone where Ethan Scott fell on the ball for a touchback.
Miller led the Eagles defense, which allowed 66 yards on the ground and 51 in the air, with 10 tackles and a QB sack. Morvant followed with 8 tackle and a sack while Jacob Self had 7 tackles and caused a fumble. Travis Carter had 5 tackles. Greg Washington caused a fumble and had 4 tackles. Latrell Jenkins had an interception return for a TD. Josue Loza recovered a bad snap to set up a score.