New Deal edges Broncos in season opener

The Clarendon Broncos opened their 2011 season in New Deal against a good Lion team. Despite playing hard, the Broncos were narrowly defeated at 28-29. A missed extra point late in the final quarter kept the Broncos from an overtime period.

The Broncos began the game with two early fumbles which resulted in touchdowns for the Lions in the first half. But Clarendon rallied back to put seven on the board before the break when Charleston Harris took it in from 25 yards out, and Tyler Burch added the kick. Both teams scored eight points in the third quarter and the Broncos’ score came when quarterback Chance McAnear hit Jerami Johnson with a 23-yard pass, and Chancy Williams added the bonus.

Things seemed to turn around somewhat for the Broncos in the final period of play as they put up 13 points on the board.

McAnear and Johnson teamed up again for six on a 27-yard pass, and Wes Williams ran it in from 23 yards out.

Head coach Gary Jack was disappointed with the loss, but felt the Broncos showed a lot of grit.

“We were down by 14 points early in the game and put ourselves in a hole,” Jack said. “We could have shut down right there, but our guys fought back and even took the lead in the third quarter. It was a crazy and wild game and we made too many mistakes early that gave them two scores. But it ended in a close game, and we learned from it. Most of the mistakes we made were little and things we can correct.”

Jack feels the Broncos will be ready for this week’s contest when Vega comes to town and knows more experience on Friday night is key.

“We have a lot of juniors and seniors that didn’t see a lot of playing time last year because of the numbers we had. It will take a game or two to get our confidence going. It is a learning process.”

Jack cited several players with good games. Williams had a good game running the ball, and Harris made some good plays. Jack said Jacob and Jayson Pigg and Jerami Johnson were solid on both sides of the ball. Trevor Cobb made some good catches for the Broncos and played good defense, and Chance McAnear had a good game calling the signals.

“Chance had a good game for us as a sophomore quarterback,” Jack said.
“He had to make some plays and decisions quick and did a good job for us.

“The game was a good test for us, and we will clean it up and be better next week.”
The Broncos play Vega at home Friday, September 2, at 7:30 p.m.