Broncos finish strong against Hornets, lose by two

By Sandy Anderberg

A strong finish nearly paid off for the Broncos Friday night at home in their season opener against Tulia, but time fought against them in their 28-30 loss to the Hornets. After beginning the game unsteadily, the Broncos dug deep to try to pull out a win, but could not overcome the hole they dug for themselves according to head coach Gary Jack.

“We had a slow start (against Tulia) and dug a hole for ourselves,” Jack said. “We got down to them 0-18 in the first quarter and then fumbled on the two-yard line in the first half. That hurt our momentum.”

Clarendon did score once before the break when quarterback Chance McAnear hit Diego Santos with a five-yard pass for six and Ryan Isbell added the kick to get on the board.

After a scoreless third quarter for both teams, the Broncos found a rhythm and were able to put points on the board in the fourth.

“We played better in the second half and fought back,” Jack said. “Because we didn’t stop them early, we had to play catch-up. We were very pleased with their effort to come back, but early mistakes hurt us. We came up a little short, but it was a lesson for us.”

The Broncos’ three scores in the final quarter came from a three-yard run from McAnear with Isbell adding the kick, a 20-yard pass from McAnear to Sell who also teamed up for the two-point conversion, and a pass from McAnear to Burch with the point after failing.

Trevor Cobb racked up 11 tackles and one interception while Trajen Johnson had eight tackles with one fumble recovery. Jack also cited Santos, Tyler Burch, and Jonah Sell with good games, and Tres Hommel and J.D. Baxter for doing a good job on defense.

“At the end of the game, our stats looked as good as theirs,” Jack said.

Clarendon racked up 303 total yards and 309 for the Hornets. McAnear was 21 for 37 with two interceptions, and each team fumbled twice losing one.

“We had to make a few adjustments in the second half and it proved we can adjust well,” Jack said.

“We are looking forward to this week when we go to Vega. We are a little short on numbers with only about 18 guys on varsity, but we’ll hopefully stay healthy and be all right.”

The Broncos will travel to Vega Friday night, September 7, beginning at 7:30 p.m.