Published: August 29, 2009 01:34 am      

Dogs’ day

Bulldogs too much for Lions to handle in season opener

NEW WAVERLY — After the fourth quarter finally ticked down to all zeroes, the Bulldogs were all smiles Friday night. They had good reason to grin.

In fact, the season opener couldn’t have gone any better for New Waverly, even if they had scripted it themselves.

The defense dominated and the offense had an easy time moving the ball. In then end, the Bulldogs not only opened up with a victory, but also pulled off the shutout, defeating Teague 34-0.

“I’m very pleased with the effort,” New Waverly head coach Ken Craig said. “I’m very pleased with how physical we played on defense and on offense.”

Even though the field was slick from a heavy storm that delayed the start of the game an hour, Teague’s offense struggled to get anything going.

The Lions only moved the chains three times all night and couldn’t muster more than 100 yards of offense.

Teague had a chance to get on the board late in the third quarter after a defensive pass interference call put the Lions inside New Waverly’s 10-yard line.

Despite being so close to the end zone, the Lions couldn’t move the ball forward.

On fourth-and-goal from the 14, junior quarterback Jarrod Phillips fumbled, but jumped on the ball, turning it over to the Bulldogs on downs.

“We came out here fired up,” New Waverly sophomore lineman Tucker Saxton said. “We’ve been practicing hard all week. We were pushed so hard during practice and I think that made the game easier for us.”

It wasn’t just the defense that made big plays, but the Bulldogs on the other side of the ball got in on the fun.

Senior running back Tyren Watts rushed for 117 yards and scored three touchdowns, including a 55-yard fumble return for the game’s first score.

Watts ran in a couple of touchdowns later in the first half.

The highly touted back put New Waverly’s first offensive points on the board with an 8-yard sweep as the first quarter was drawing to a close. Then a few minutes later, Watts broke up the middle for a 31-yard touchdown.

Much like the skies before the game, the Bulldogs poured it on.

Known more for being a bruising type of a runner and getting the tough yards, junior fullback K.D. Scott found a hole up the middle and wouldn’t be denied as he sprinted 30 yards toward the end zone.

“It felt real good,” Scott said of his touchdown run. “It was the best game I’ve had in a long time.

“We came out with our game plan and did what we were supposed to do. It felt good to come out and have such a good game as a team.”

“If somebody is going to play us, they’re going to know that we’re going to play physical,” Craig added. “Shutouts are a rare thing. I’ll be fired up every time we get one.”