Tigers dominate in district opener

Birthday presents come in all shapes and sizes.

Jacksboro Coach Brannon Rodgers and players Garrett White and Brayden Roberts all celebrated their birthdays Friday, the party being made even more special as the trio were able to open District 6-3A Division II play with a 16-8 win over visiting Comanche at Tiger Stadium.

Jacksboro goes to 1-0 and 3-3 overall while the Indians fall to 2-4 and 0-1. Rodgers said the squad needed an energy boost to get the victory.

“Our energy just wasn’t there in the first half,” Rodgers said. ‘We weren’t finishing drives. We were able to bring the energy in the second half.”

Jacksboro did an amazing job defensively in the game, allowing 54 yards of offense to a team that was averaging 235 yards in non-district action. A mere 20 of those came in the second half. 

Ricardo Sanchez’s fumble recovery with less than two minutes gone would prove to be the only score of the game for the visitors.

The Tigers had 279 yards of offense overall, 170 of that coming in the first half. The Tigers had two long drives, which had the ball inside the red zone, end up with nothing to show for it. 

A chop block penalty on third-and-short at the Indian 14 eventually would lead to one drive being shut down. The ensuing drive, which began at the Jacksboro one, would end at the Comanche 16 as a fourth-down pass went incomplete.

A third Tiger drive had Jacksboro drive inside the Comanche 40 only to have a pass picked off late in the first half.

 It was the Tigers’ returning the defensive favor to start the second half, which got the tide turned.

Comanche, which ran just nine offensive plays in the first half, again had some good luck come their way on their first drive of the second half. A pass interference penalty moved the ball near midfield for the first time. Jacksboro’s Rylan Chalmers came through with an interception three plays later and then had a nifty runback to set up the Tigers at the Indian 33.

The Tigers caught their first break of the night on fourth down, as quarterback Landon Davenport went 18 yards up the gut to set up first-and-goal at the nine. Gio Salazar scored two plays later from four yards out. The conversion run failed but the Tigers were within two at 8-6 midway through the third.

The Tigers used a big sack on third-and-long from Seth Isbell, Justin Loucks, and Randall Hamilton to force another punt. Jacksboro looked at fourth-and-goal from the eight to close the third quarter and let Salazar boot a 24-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth for a 9-8 lead four seconds in.

The defense continued its solid play with Edwin Salazar’s fumble recovery on the ensuing drive giving the Purple the ball at the Comanche 35. 

The 10-play drive with Justin Loucks going up the gut from a yard out Salazar’s foot was true on the extra point for a 16-8 lead with 4:25 to go.

Comanche again stared at fourth-and-long in the waning moments. The Tiger’s defense stepped up for a third turnover of the half with Gio Salazar getting the pick with 90 seconds left to seal the deal.

Jacksboro plays Friday at Tolar, which lost at home to Dublin 35-20 last week.