Ganado pulls out a win, this time against Cobras

    At the Cobra field on Friday night the Ganado Indians defeated Industrial with a final score of 26-7. This was amidst Industrial's Homecoming, and the Cobras were surely proud to put numbers on the scoreboard, being that they hadn't been successful in doing that for quite a while. Both sides of the stands were packed with maroon and bits of white from the fans that supported their teams that night.
    Indian Athletic Director Keith Wright said they had a great defense and only gave up one first down in the entire game. “Our defense was outstanding all night long,” he said.
    Cobra Athletic Director Kensey Allen said the team is going to go back to basics. “We had three turnovers and some costly penalties so we’re going to improve, correct the mistakes and take care of the ball better,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing and we just have to execute better. It’s about fixing those mistakes and being a little smarter.”
    Indians #60 Austin Eastlick, #69 Jose Mendoza, #7 Michael-Douglas Maresh and #11 Matt Bridges took the field for the coin toss against Cobras #54 Devon De Los Santos, #34 Ethan McMullen, #25 Trevor Ressman and #59 Kendrick Shelton. The Cobras won and declined to the second half.
    #83 Cobra Alberto Pineda kicked off the night for his team and #1 Indian Caleb Thedford caught the football at the 45-yard line. Quarterback Bridges took the field with some passes to #22 Garrett McCann, but the Cobra defense was not having any of it and wouldn't allow many gains in the first few plays. Ganado kicked their ball to the Cobras at the 32-yard line and quarterback McMullen passed to #20 Bailey Kolb and got to the 22-yard line. After a fumble from #30 Cobra Ethan Brown Ganado took back the ball and quarterback Maresh managed some plays to get them further down the field.
    McCann saw an opening and ran for the first touchdown of the night with 7:47 left in the first quarter. An attempt by #18 Jorge Campuzano for the point after touchdown was not good, leaving the score at 6-0 in Ganado's favor.
    After Campuzano's kick to the Cobras in the next play, Industrial was able to respond when #28 Avery Milner found an opening himself and ran to the end zone and scoring a touchdown with 7:29 left in the quarter. The PAT was good by #10 Brock Werckle, bringing the new score to 7-6, now in the Cobras favor.
    Cobra Pineda kicked off again back to Ganado. #84 Brennan Prukop gave a huge stop, followed by another big stop by De Los Santos. Indian #4 Matthew Sterling gained enough yards to make a first down, and teammate #6 Bobby Garcia did the same, although the Cobra defense was showing what they could do in keeping the Indians at arm's length.
    The Indians kept pushing though and made it down the field yard by yard. Cobra #60 Wesley Sliva and Milner made some good tackles for their team as the Indians kept inching by. Even at the 1-yard line the Cobra defense was doing the best they could at keeping the Indians from their end zone, but Ganado scored another touchdown with 3:13 left in the first. Cobra #53 Nick Strauss made a big move to stop the Indians from a two-point conversion, leaving the score at 12-7, still in Ganado's favor.
    McMullen made some passes to Brown and #29 Jay Sandoval to try and make a first down, but Ganado's #55 Malcolm Chaisson sacked McMullen before he make a pass at the 8-yard line. Indian #8 Dalton Service caught Werckle's kick, before some excellent tackles were made by Cobras De Los Santos and K. Shelton.
    A complete pass by Maresh to Thedford led Ganado early in the second quarter was good for another touchdown with 11:49 left. Maresh was good on the two-point conversion, bringing the new score to 20-7.
    No points were score in the remaining first half of the game, but good stops were made by Cobras Prukop, Sliva, Strauss, #64 Dylan Hempel and De Los Santos. Indians #28 Christian Palacios, #56 Jairo Martinez did the same for their team.
    The third quarter was much like the remaining of the second quarter in that no one scored. Cobra Ressman was good on the return before McMullen fumbled on the next play at their 20-yard line. Indian Sterling was good on the carry before being stopped by Sliva. #9 Jacob Foltyn was good on a carry before being stopped by Sliva again. This continued on from both sides as they attempted to do big things for their team but was stopped by the opposing team. Co-quarterback Indians Bridges and Maresh did what they could in carries to Foltyn and Sterling, while Cobra McMullen caused carries for Milner that got them down the field, but not all the way.
    Indians Maresh took the field and gave some carries to Palacios and Sterling, while Cobras Strauss, #52 Carson Berger and De Los Santos made some big tackles for their team before the end of the third quarter.
    The Cobras took over close to the end zone, but a fumble gave the ball back to Ganado. After a play, Bridges gave the ball to Foltyn and he scored another touchdown for Ganado with 8:46 left in the game. An incomplete pass from Bridges to Thedford caused the Indians to lose their two-point conversion. The score was still in their favor though, at 26-7.
    In the remainder of the game neither team was able to make it the end zone again, but Cobras Sandoval and #11 Logan Gabrysch made some big stops for their teams, along with Sliva.
    Indian Coach Wright said winning three games in a row is what the team will be focusing on for next week. “The kids need to learn what it’s like to win like that and it’s what they should be concentrating on, they need to make sure they’re prepared mentally.”
    Indian Eastlick, who experienced a concussion on Friday night, is doing better but dealing with a bit of memory loss where the game is concerned. “We will help build our defense to stop anything they give us,” he said, speaking of Goliad.
    The Indians will face the Goliad Tigers there on Friday, Sept. 18. Kick off is set for 7:30 p.m.