Eagles Fall Short Against Defending Champs

WATONGA – The Watonga Eagles dropped their first game of the season on Friday night, falling 56-34 in Cashion to start District play.

Watonga trailed by just one point after the first quarter, at 7-6, but the Wildcats outscored the Eagles 28-6 in the second quarter to grab a big lead they never gave back.

Watonga quarterback Joe Jackson went 19-28 passing on Friday for 316 yards and four touchdowns. He added another TD on the ground.

Receiver Deondre Dunn went for 188 yards and three touchdowns, and Chris Sanders had 75 and a score.

The game’s first quarter was a quick one, consisting largely of just one touchdown drive from each team. Cashion took the opening kick to its 39 yard line, and Wildcats quarterback Ben Harman went to work on the passing game. Harman found Landon LaGasse with his second pass of the day for a 14-yard gain and a first down.

Running back Mason Manning also sprung a 29- yard run to set Cashion up in the red zone. Though Watonga forced Cashion into a fourth-and-1 situation inside the 10, Cashion converted the attempt and then handed off to Manning for the first touchdown of the night.

Watonga also converted two fourth-down plays on its first drive. The first was gifted to the Eagles by a Cashion offside penalty, and later Jackson took a fourthand-3 carry for 12 yards to the Wildcats’ 7. Jackson ended that drive with a 1- yard keeper for the score.

The Wildcats scored on their second drive, too, which ended early in the second quarter. It looked like the teams would be trading blows all night. But on its second possession, Watonga lost the momentum and was never able to get it back.

The drive started at the Eagles’ 31. Caymon Wieczorrek was tackled behind the line and then Jackson threw an incompletion, bringing up a third down and 12. But following a timeout, Jackson found Dunn and got 11 of those yards back. Facing fourth and 1, Watonga took another timeout to discuss the call. They opted for a little surprise – rather than a running play, or even a short pass, Jackson rolled out to the right and attempted a deep downfield throw to Sanders on the right sideline, hoping to catch the Wildcats off-guard.

But the pass fell short, and Cashion took over in Eagles territory. It scored again four plays later, going up 20-6.

Watonga trailed by 23 at halftime, 35-12, having snuck in a second touchdown just before the half on a 64-yard connection from Jackson to Sanders. Watonga was hoping to ride that miracle score into a productive second half, especially after the 40-point effort Watonga made in the last two quarters the week before.

Unfortunately, the Cashion offense wasn’t about to let up. Watonga’s first drive of the third quarter ended with a quick interception, and naturally the Wildcats took that opportunity to score yet again. Dunn helped the Eagles’ cause with an athletic interception midway through the third quarter, but that drive only resulted in Watonga’s second straight turnover on downs.

Watonga managed three more big plays to keep the points coming, even as Cashion pulled further away. The Eagles added touchdowns on a 60-yard pass to Dunn; another Dunn grab from 23 yards out (followed by a nifty one-handed snag on the two-point conversion); and a 25-yard Jackson keeper at the tail end of the fourth.

After the game, Coach Skylar Watson said the loss will be a valuable lesson to the team.

“We can’t allow one game to define us,” Watson said. “At the end of the day, we’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and go back to the little things. I think our kids found out that we can compete with anyone if we play our game, but really, at the end of the day, we’ve got to clean up the little stuff.”

Watonga is off this Friday but returns to action next Friday, Oct. 8 at Tonkawa. The game kicks at 7 p.m.