Belton Bows to Central, 33-8: Bobcats Build 26-0 First-half Lead, Drop Tigers to 0-4

SAN ANGELO — After last season’s meeting, Belton knew it needed to limit San Angelo Central dual-threat quarterback Christian English in order to have a chance at slowing down the Bobcats’ offense. The Tigers mostly did that Friday night, but English still did enough to lead Central to a win. The senior who accounted for almost 600 yards in last fall’s clash between these schools threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns Friday and added a pair of rushing TDs to push the Bobcats to a 33-8 victory over Belton in a non-district affair at San Angelo Stadium. English’s 223 total yards were paltry by last season’s standards, but most of them came in the first half when Central (2-2) built a 26-0 cushion while outgaining the Tigers 213-40 to record its second straight win. “I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not very good football,” said Belton head coach Brett Sniffin, whose team kept the Bobcats scoreless on three of four second-half drives, though the damage already had been inflicted. “We kind of contained (English), which is good because he’s the engine that makes them go. But it’s more about correcting (other things). We have to get first downs. We have to move the ball early and not wait until the third quarter to start playing.” Belton (0-4) played from behind from nearly the start after Central’s Gabriel Rodriguez intercepted Graham Chambley’s first pass of the night on the Tigers’ second play from scrimmage, the first of two Belton turnovers. The junior returned it 30 yards to set up first-and-goal and Jimmy Edwards went in motion and took English’s flick pass 4 yards around the edge for the game’s first touchdown with less than 2 minutes elapsed. It was the first of three straight scoring drives as the Bobcats built a 16-0 lead by the end of the first quarter then added 10 more in the ensuing 12 minutes to take a 26-point buffer into the locker room. “The defense played pretty good. We did what we wanted to do for the most part. We kept them in front of us, made them drive down the field, which they did a few times,” Sniffin said of his defense, which totaled 11 tackles for loss. “They executed the game plan and the offense did not.” English had two critical keepers on Central’s second scoring march, the first for 37 yards on fourth-and-4 and the last a 3-yard score through the right side for a 13-0 edge. Evan Vaughn tacked on the first of two field goals by knocking through a 28-yarder with 4 seconds left on the Bobcats’ final possession of the first. He also converted a 35-yarder with 5 seconds left before halftime. Damien Tiumalu had a sack and the Tigers got another tackle for loss as they forced Central to punt for the first time on its opening drive of the second quarter, but Belton’s offense had its third straight three-and-out. The Bobcats pushed things to 23-0 when English hit Edwards for their second TD connection, this time from 29 yards out after Edwards made a Tigers defender miss at the 10 then took it down the right sideline to the end zone. The senior had game highs of seven catches for 96 yards. The Bobcats executed their longest scoring drive in the third quarter, a 20-play, 90-yard endeavor that lasted almost 8 minutes and ended with a 33-0 lead when English ran in from 2 yards out. Belton responded with its lone scoring drive, a quick five-play explosion that included a 32-yard completion from Will Shepard to Gavin Ross and a 22-yard strike from Josiah Martinez to Benjamin Thompson on back-to-back plays to set up Shepard’s 1-yard sneak for a TD. The sophomore found Ross for the 2-point conversion to account for the final tally. “We changed practice, and practice was good this week. We fired that ball, and then we get out there and I don’t know,” said Sniffin, whose team hosts Cuero in its last non-district tune-up next week. “We’re doing everything we can to figure this out and we’re going to put our bootstraps on and go out there again Monday and figure out how to play a four-quarter football game.” SAN ANGELO CENTRAL 33, BELTON 8 Belton 0 0 0 8 — 8 Central 16 10 7 0 — 33 Cen — Jimmy Edwards 4 pass from Christian English (Evan Vaughn kick) Cen — English 3 run (kick failed) Cen — Vaughn 28 field goal Cen — Edwards 29 pass from English (Vaughn kick) Cen — Vaughn 35 field goal Cen — English 2 run (Jameson Meryhew kick) Bel — Will Shepard 1 run (Gavin Ross pass from Shepard) TEAM STATISTICS Bel Cen First downs 7 20 Rushes-yards 15-39 41-165 Passing yards 107 178 Comp.-Att.-Int. 12-22-2 17-34-0 Punts-average 6-35.6 3-42 Fumbles-lost 0 0 Penalties-yards 5-45 4-25 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING — Belton: Benjamin Thompson 5-24, Shepard 3-12, Khy Griffin 6-4, Gino Zecca 1-(-1); Central: Darius Huitt 14-62, English 8-55, Elijah Allen 10-28, John Paul Nombrano II 3-13, Matthew Alvarado 4-10, Brett Jones 1-1, team 1-(-4). PASSING — Belton: Shepard 7-14-1-76, Josiah Martinez 1-1-0-22, Chambley 4-7-1-9; Central: English 16-31-0-168, Jones 1-3-0-10. RECEIVING — Belton: Ross 4-56, Thompson 1-22, Zecca 2-9, Martinez 1-8, Collin Taylor 1-6, Rayshaun Peoples 3-6; Central: Edwards 7-96, Casner Stribling 2-32, Jaddin Mack 2-19, Gavin Johnson 2-19, Allen 2-2, Jesse Smith 2-0.

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BELTON BOWS TO CENTRAL, 33-8: BOBCATS BUILD 26-0 FIRST-HALF LEAD, DROP TIGERS TO 0-4

JON BROOKS | TELEGRAM STAFF

Temple Daily Telegram | 9/22/2024

PHOTO CREDIT: Concho Valley Homepage