Watonga Handles Hobart

HOBART — After securing an early lead, the Watonga Eagles were pushed Friday night when the Hobart Bearcats made it a one-score game late in the third quarter.

But clutch defense boosted the Eagles, whose offense responded with another 16 unanswered points to pull away and beat the Bearcats 40-16.

Watonga was led Friday by senior quarterback Joe Jackson, who ran for 206 yards while passing for another 218. Sophomore receiver Chris Sanders stepped up to pace the talented group of pass-catchers, hauling in six grabs for 124 yards. Deondre Dunn went for 59 yards on just two catches, and junior running back Caymon Wieczorrek helped Watonga’s cause with 30 yards on six carries.

Dunn also scored a clutch pick-six in the first quarter, grabbing a tipped Hobart pass deep in their territory and returning it for Watonga’s first points of the game.

After going down 8-0 early, Watonga went into halftime with a commanding lead. Hobart had secured the first touchdown with a oneplay drive, a short rollout pass to the right that left the Eagles chasing the receiver all the way to the end zone. But Watonga settled down by the end of the first quarter, scoring on Dunn’s picksix and then nabbing its first offensive touchdown with 18 seconds left in the frame. After recovering a fumble at his own 22, Jackson hit Sanders on three straight plays; the first went for 53 yards and the third another 18 for the score.

Watonga’s next two touchdowns were lightningfast. One was a 40-yard strike from Jackson to Dunn. Then, with about four minutes left in the half, Jackson took off on the second play of the drive, running 86 yards to the house. But Watonga went for two after all four touchdowns and failed on all four, leaving its advantage at just 16 points.

That’s how Hobart made it a one-score game in the third quarter, despite scoring only two touchdowns to Watonga’s four. The Bearcats’ senior running back Tommy Lancaster punched it in from 17 yards out with 3:01 left in the quarter.

Meanwhile, Watonga’s offense had stalled. After scoring 12 points each in the first and second quarters, the Eagles didn’t manage any in the third. And right after Hobart narrowed the score to 8 points, Jackson threw an interception late in the third that gave Hobart a chance to tie the game.

That never happened. Freshman Landon Wagner became a constant presence in the Hobart backfield, coming up with a big thirddown sack and a tackle for loss in the fourth quarter.

With the defense playing its part, the Eagles managed two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter – this time with successful two-point conversions – to secure the victory.

After the game, head coach Skylar Watson praised his players’ attitude.

“I was proud of the way that our kids fought,” Watson said. “Things got hard. We had some sloppy stuff, and they never turned on each other. They just continued to work. Hopefully we can build on that and clean up the stuff that needs to be fixed. But at the end of the day, I couldn’t be more proud of the way our kids just battled.”

Watonga was called for many penalties in the second half, far exceeding Hobart’s total, that nearly stalled its offensive drives. The Eagles were flagged four times on a single fourth-quarter drive, including on three straight plays. But Watson said the team just tries to “take it in stride.”

“I thought our kids did a good job of accepting the fact that it was called,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do about it once it’s called, just continue to stay focused on what the main goal was. … Whenever you put on that W, you always know you’re going to have a hard time getting calls, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Watonga’s first home game of the season will be this Friday night, Sept. 10, against Rush Springs. The Redskins are 0-1 so far this season, having lost to Cordell by a 34-26 score on Friday. They were slotted at No. 34 in The Oklahoman’s Class A preseason rankings.