Published: October 04, 2008 02:41 am            

How Sweet it is: Huntsville 21, Brenham o

Hornets stay unbeaten in district action with first win over Cubs in seven years

BRENHAM — Huntsville’s defense dropped a serious hammer down and put an end to seven long seasons of frustration Friday.

Flying all over the field, the Hornets held Brenham, the four-time defending district champs, to four first downs and only 116 yards of total offense in a dominating 21-0 victory at Cub Stadium.

The win was Huntsville’s first over the Cubs since 2000. It was also the Hornets’ second straight district win, which puts them tied atop the 18-4A standings with Magnolia, a 26-9 winner over Willis on Friday.

Huntsville (2-0 in 18-4A, 2-1 overall) held a Brenham team that rushed for 239 yards last week to 20 yards on the ground. Brenham (1-1 in 18-4A, 1-3 overall) passed for 96 yards, but the Cubs only completed 9 of 24 throws with one interception.

With bone-jarring hits, the Hornets forced three fumbles and came up with two recoveries.

“That was amazing. I can’t even describe it,” senior defensive lineman Adam Ayala said while celebrating on the field where Huntsville came so close last season. “This is all we’ve been talking about for the last two or three years.”

Beating Brenham has been the talk around Huntsville for longer than that. The Cubs’ seven-game winning streak came to a screeching halt Friday when the Hornets scored one touchdown in the first half and added two more in the final 24 minutes.

Huntsville also kept the Cubs from ever really threatening. Only twice in the entire game did Brenham cross the 50-yard line into Hornet territory. That’s how dominant the Huntsville defense was Friday night.

Defensive coordinator Shane Martin drew up an aggressive, attacking game plan for his group, and the Hornets delivered a close-to-perfect performance.

Determined to knock Brenham off the mountain, defensive linemen Kirby Ennis, Marcus Williams, Marqueil Kizzee and Ayala relentlessly pursued sophomore quarterback Ty Schlottman. They sacked Schlottman three times and batted down four passes. James Davidson also intercepted a desperation pass just before halftime for Huntsville.

The Hornets also kept senior running back Keith Sanders under wraps. A guy who ran for 90 yards last week in the Cubs’ win over Montgomery managed only 25 yards against Huntsville on seven carries. Senior quarterback Kendrell Washington picked up only 7 more yards on five rushes.

“We’re for real now,” Williams said. “We played hard-nosed defense and we played with emotion. We got the job done.”

Davidson added, “We’ve got a new brand of respect now. Everybody in the district is going to see this. We are the team to beat now.”

Davidson said the Hornets cannot let up. Huntsville’s final five regular-season opponents, starting next week when Waller comes to Bowers Stadium, will be gunning for the new district leaders.

“The target’s on our backs now,” Davidson said. “That just means we’ve got to go out and work even harder.”

The Hornets certainly worked hard for Friday’s big win. After forcing the first of nine Brenham punts early in the opening period, quarterback Justin Gilbert engineered a five-play, 51-yard scoring drive. He capped it with a deft 20-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw.

Huntsville had a chance to blow the game open in the second period, but the Hornets failed to score three times after starting possessions deep in Brenham territory. That worried Hornets coach Mitchell Coey as the teams went to intermission.

“We should’ve been up 21-0 going into halftime, but we squandered a whole bunch of opportunities,” the coach said. “Our defense gave us opportunities, but we couldn’t capitalize. Sometimes when you let good teams hang around, you look up and they beat you.”

On this night, Huntsville’s defense, which also got big plays from Kevin Butcher, Anthony Griffin, Chris Blanks, Brys Baggett, Shaquille Ross and others, was not going to let that happen.

Early in the second half, the Hornets put a lick on Sanders and popped the ball loose. After Kizzee fell on the fumble on the Cubs’ 7-yard line, Gilbert hit Butcher with a 9-yard touchdown pass.

The Hornets tacked on a late touchdown when sophomore Mark Wheeler zipped through a hole in the Brenham defense and scooted 15 yards to the end zone.

Kicker Martin Juarez added his third point-after kick and everyone from Huntsville started to celebrate with 1:03 left in the game.

“Our defense kept us in the game,” Huntsville running back Joseph Maxey said after rushing for a career-high 107 yards on 22 carries. “Our offense wasn’t really rolling tonight. I ain’t going to lie, we were kind of asleep, especially in the first half. We had the ball 10 times and only scored once. We made some adjustments at halftime and they worked.”

Coey said the Hornets have been waiting a long time to finally beat the big dogs in District 18-4A. After swallowing the bitter pill that came with a 30-27 loss to the Cubs last year, Coey was smiling from ear to ear while greeting players, coaches and fans on the field late Friday night.

“Anytime you shut out Brenham, heck, just to beat Brenham, I don’t have words to describe the feeling,” he said. “I’m ecstatic. It’s been a long time coming.”

        

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