Indians put forth valiant effort

    The Ganado Indians weathered a narrow loss against the Van Vleck Leopards on Friday, Sept. 26, with a final score of 34-24.
    Overall, Ganado was fairly content with the way they played. Offensive coordinator Rick Ragsdale said the Indians gave a tremendous effort. “We struggled to execute offensively and that cost us,” he said, “but our kids played hard.”
    The Indians won the toss and opted to receive. Sophomore Christian Palacios received the ball on the kickoff, and brought the ball to the 20-yard line. The Indians worked their way up the field and in due time, senior quarterback Johnathan Martinez scored the first touchdown of the night on the quarterback keep. The extra-point attempt by Martinez was successful.
    The Leopards then received the ball and after a good run by their offense, the Indians’ opponents scored a touchdown; however, the extra-point attempt was no good. Following the trade of touchdowns, the Indians had the ball on the 30, but after failed runs and an incomplete pass to junior wide-receiver Caleb Thedford, the Indians were forced to punt the ball. The Leopards used the play to their advantage, for after a few runs, the Leopards scored their second touchdown of the night. The two-point conversion now brought the score to 14-7. The Indians were strong going forward, but Leopard defense stopped any further advancement. The first quarter then came to a close, the score still at 14-7, Van Vleck.
    The second quarter started on a good note for the Indians. A hand-off to sophomore Garrett McCann by Martinez led to a Ganado touchdown. The extra-point attempt by Martinez was no good. The Leopards then had the ball in their hands, but the Indian defense was consistently solid, forcing a turnover on downs. During this run, Martinez set the ball rolling with a thirty-five yard pass to Smith, who made the extra twenty-yard run to the thirty, giving the Indians a first down. A hard drive led to a touchdown by McCann and the two-point conversion attempt by junior Brandon Lister was successful, bringing to a close the first half, the score 14-21 Ganado.
    In the third quarter, the Leopards started with the ball, but an interception by McCann forced the turnover. The Indians continued to drive, but it wasn’t enough for a touchdown. The Indians went for a field goal, and Martinez’s attempt was successful, upping the score to 14-24. The Leopards then led a hard drive up the field, eventually scoring a touchdown. The extra-point attempt was called good. The score at the end of the third quarter remained then at 21-24, Ganado still on top.
    The fourth quarter began with the Leopards ready to pounce, for in the first few minutes, they score their first touchdown of the half; however, the two-point conversion attempt was thwarted by a group of Indians. Once the Indians had the ball, they fought hard and advanced up the field. A complete pass by Martinez to McCann led to an Indian first down, but the Indian offense couldn’t execute a final touchdown run. On defense, the team strived to stop their opponents as the Leopards made their final push to the end zone. The Leopards scored the final touchdown of the night and succeeded in the extra point attempt, finalizing the score at a devastating 34-24.
    Junior wide-receiver Jacob Foltyn said, “We played well throughout the entire game, we just need to clean some stuff up and we’ll be ready to roll into district.”
    The Indians will open up district play in two weeks against the Flatonia Bulldogs.
    “I expect them to be a good team,” Foltyn continued, “They’re good year-in and year-out, but I think we’ll be ready since we played a hard preseason.”
    Before the game against Flatonia, the Indians have their bye week. The team hopes to use the extra week to rest and improve on basic skill work.
    “We’re going to improve mainly our fundamentals, defense, and breaking everything down to step one,” said senior center Cameron Martinez. “Flatonia hasn’t played anybody really good like we have,” he adds, “so they’re going to be coming in four and one, rolling with enthusiasm, but hopefully we can stop them where they’re at.”
    The Ganado Indians have their bye week Oct. 3 and will play in Flatonia on Oct. 10 at 7:30 pm.