Published: December 27, 2008 11:49 pm      

Top 10 Sports Stories of 2008: No. 4 Bulldog football is back

New Waverly earns playoff berth for first time since 2002

When the Bulldogs first reported to camp on Aug. 4, head coach Ken Craig had a feeling he had an exceptional team on his hands. He felt New Waverly could be a special team and have a good season. The Bulldog players began to feed off that optimism and were talking playoffs.

For a team that has missed out on the postseason for the previous six seasons, just to be in contention would’ve been welcomed, but the Dogs had bigger plans.

New Waverly rolled through the regular season undefeated and won a pair of playoff games before bowing out in the Region III semifinal to eventual Class 2A Division II state champion Daingerfield.

The Bulldogs showed the kind of toughness it takes to be a playoff team early in the season by going on the road and picking up a pair of come-from-behind victories to open up the season.

In the season opener against Teague, New Waverly fell behind 12-0 in the first quarter, but then started to get things going in the second period.

Junior running back Tyren Watts, District 21-2A Most Valuable Player and second team all-state selection, scored twice on runs from inside the 10-yard line and junior X’Zavious Harrison caught a 48-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Rhett Bohannon as the Bulldogs scored 20 unanswered points to go into the half with a 20-12 lead.

Teague scored in the third quarter to tie the game, but New Waverly answered back and held the Lions in check the rest of the way.

Against Hearne, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 12-0 lead, but saw it quickly vanish after turning the ball over and having a punt blocked, which Hearne turned into points both times and held a 24-12 halftime lead. The Bulldogs maintained their composure, scoring 13 points in the third quarter and shut out Hearne for the remainder of the game.

“The defense played great as a group,” junior linebacker Matt Gray said following the 25-24 victory over Hearne. “We had lots of swarm to the ball. It was very exciting to hold on and win the game after losing to this team last year in the final seconds.”

The Bulldogs didn’t play again for three weeks because of the effects from Hurricane Ike, but resumed play on Sept. 26 and defeated Huntington 21-14 and the following week, they opened up district with a 42-0 thrashing of Centerville.

Next up for the Bulldogs was a game they had been anticipating since before the season started, a road contest against 10th-ranked Corrigan-Camden.

With Corrigan-Camden defeating Buffalo 41-12 in the district opener, the winner between Corrigan-Camden and New Waverly would have the inside track to the District 21-2A championship.

New Waverly struck first, scoring on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Bohannon to junior wide receiver Kyren Watts.

It was a defensive struggle for the rest of the first half and New Waverly led 7-0 at halftime.

But it started getting interesting in the third quarter.

On the opening possession of the second half, Corrigan-Camden running back JoCourtney Johnson broke free for a 56-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7.

But New Waverly answered with a big play of its own. Bohannon connected with Tyren Watts for a 47-yard touchdown to retake the lead 14-7.

With just a few minutes remaining in the third quarter, Corrigan-Camden faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 44-yard line. Johnson charged up the middle and ran into a group of Bulldogs, but then bounced to the outside and ran up the sideline for his second 56-yard touchdown run, which knotted the score at 14.

The game remained deadlocked until the 6:23 mark in the fourth quarter when Bohannon hit Kyren Watts for another 3-yard touchdown.

Corrigan-Camden had one last chance. On fourth-and-25 from New Waverly’s 47 with a little more than two minutes to play, quarterback Chris Drayton heaved up a prayer. But Harrison came down with the ball to effectively end the game.

“I’m just so proud of our team,” Bohannon said while trying to catch his breath. “I know how hard we worked all year. I know how hard we worked in two-a-days. We all knew how hard we worked this week.

“It was a total team effort tonight. My receivers caught the ball well. My linemen were blocking. Tyren had great runs. I’m just so happy right now. Tonight, we lived up to our full potential.”

The win helped the Bulldogs garner some attention and were named in the Texas Prep Insiders Top 10 poll.

“We still have to work hard,” senior Dadrian Powell said. “Beating Corrigan wasn’t our only goal. Our goals are to win district and then maybe state. We just have to keep working hard. I’m proud to be on this team. We put a lot of work into it week in and week out. Our goal is to keep winning. I like the recognition, but we’ve been underdogs all season and still feed off that. We want more.”

The Bulldogs won their final three regular-season games with victories over Trinity, Groveton and Buffalo to close out the regular season with a perfect 8-0 record and an outright District 21-2A championship.

It’s quite an improvement from two seasons ago when the Bulldogs managed only one victory.

Despite missing out on the playoffs since 2002, the Bulldogs showed they belonged, crushing San Augustine 31-6 on Nov. 15. It was the first playoff victory for New Waverly since 1999 when the Bulldogs defeated Troup 20-12.

The Bulldogs moved on to the area round to face Hardin.

After leading 14-0 at halftime, the Bulldogs ran away with the game in the fourth quarter, scoring 23 points to pull away with a 37-8 victory.

New Waverly advanced to the Region III semifinals and ran into a fast, talented Daingerfield team.

Daingerfield took advantage of every Bulldog mistake. The Tigers scored every time they had the ball in the first half. Daingerfield led 48-14 at halftime and went on to win 61-14, eliminating the Bulldogs from the playoffs.

New Waverly’s only loss was the one that ended its season.

“We went out there knowing what we had to do and we didn’t have a good game,” a somber Bohannon said following the game. “We made mistakes. I love this team. I didn’t want us to lose this way. We didn’t deserve to lose like this.”

While being on the short end of a lopsided defeat was tough, it was certainly one of the most memorable seasons New Waverly has enjoyed in a long time.