Chase for District 3-6A title begins for San Angelo Central football team vs. Weatherford
The Central Bobcats football team will host Weatherford for its homecoming game and district opener Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, at San Angelo Stadium.
Chase for District 3-6A title begins for San Angelo Central football team vs. Weatherford The Central Bobcats football team will host Weatherford for its homecoming game and district opener Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, at San Angelo Stadium. Check out this story on gosanangelo.com: https://www.gosanangelo.com/story/sports/high-school/central/2019/09/25/san-angelo-central-bobcats-football-weatherford-kangaroos-2019/2436288001/
Charles Bryce, San Angelo Standard-Times Published 10:37 a.m. CT Sept. 25, 2019 | Updated 4:14 p.m. CT Sept. 27, 2019
Malachi Brown throws a pass for the San Angelo Central football team Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. (Photo: Colin Murphey / San Angelo Standard-Times)
After one of the greatest comebacks in program history last week, the Central High School football team will take that momentum into its homecoming game and District 3-6A opener against Weatherford at 7 p.m. Friday at San Angelo Stadium.
The Bobcats trailed El Paso Pebble Hills 34-9 and 40-16 before scoring 28 unanswered points en route to a miraculous 25-point comeback in a 44-40 thriller on the road.
Central got within 40-24 at the half and shut out the Spartans in the second half.
More: San Angelo Central pulls off 25-point comeback win at Pebble Hills
"I'm just proud of the kids," Central head coach Brent Davis said. "Yeah, we made a lot of mistakes in the first half — we didn't tackle well and we missed some assignments and things like that. But a lot of teams would have cratered.
"A lot of teams wouldn't have fought hard and come back in the second half. I think it helps us as a football team to know that we can do that."
Kris Jackson runs the ball for the San Angelo Central football team Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. (Photo: Colin Murphey / San Angelo Standard-Times)
Central quarterback Malachi Brown completed 20 of 30 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns. He connected on 16 of his final 18 attempts and ran for 64 yards and three more scores.
"He played lights out," the Bobcats coach said. "He led our football team and played unbelievable."
Central's last six possessions included five straight TDs and one series where the Bobcats were just trying to milk the clock.
Friday's win over Pebble Hills ranks as one of the greatest comebacks in Davis's long career as a head coach.
Perhaps the only one better was in 2014 when the Bobcats trailed by 21 points in the fourth quarter at home in a bidistrict playoff game against Arlington Bowie. Qarterback Braden Hucks (now a wide receiver at Tarleton State) engineered a remarkable 55-52 double-overtime victory.
The 'real' season begins Friday
After finishing third in District 3-6A last year in their first season in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex-heavy district, the Bobcats will try to improve on that finish in 2019.
It all begins with a showdown against an undefeated Weatherford (4-0) team. The game will be carried live on KIXY 94.7-FM.
Last year in Weatherford, the Bobcats edged the Kangaroos 26-21.
Weatherford quarterback Ken Seals, a 6-foot-3, 207-pound senior, is a Vanderbilt University commit who is having a sensational 2019 campaign. He's completed 64 of 98 passes (65.3 percent) for 1,070 yards and 13 TDs against two interceptions. His QB rating is 133.1.
"He was really good last year, but he's exceptional now," Davis said of Seals. "He's really gotten better. And he's got good receivers and a great running back (Dezmond Forrest, who has 566 yards rushing and 17 total TDs).
Ashton Hartsfield, far right, evades an opponent while rushing the ball for the San Angelo Central football team Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. (Photo: Colin Murphey / San Angelo Standard-Times)
"The thing about (Seals) is he's playing with confidence. He can put the ball on the money. He throws it extremely well and they catch it well. And he runs the ball better than he did last year. You can tell he's worked really hard at getting better, and he's a legit D-I football player."
In addition to trying to keep Seals in check, Davis says Forrest will be the best running back Central has faced so far this year.
Weatherford is coming off a 60-13 blowout at home against Fort Worth Southwest last week.
Before last season's finish behind district champ Fort Worth Haltom and runner-up Euless Trinity, the Bobcats had won at least a share of five consecutive district titles.
The goal this season is to return to the mountaintop.
"Oh yeah," the Central coach said. "We're trying to win the district championship, and it's not out of reach. The thing about this district is that everybody in it can beat anybody else. Every week it's going to be a tight ballgame. and it's probably going to be a (one-score) ballgame.
"Last year, Richland beat Trinity and this year it looks like Weatherford is a lot better. Trinity is Trinity. The only one that looks like it might be struggling a little bit is Richland, and I don't know why they're struggling. I haven't seen them on film or anything."
The Bobcats will have a strong indication of how they'll stack up after the first two 3-6A contests, but Davis knows the district race is a marathon and not a sprint.
"We start off with probably the two best teams in district (Weatherford and Trinity)," Davis said. "They're both 4-0 and they're the only two undefeated teams in the district. And just luck of the draw, we get both of them right off the bat.
"It's going to be super important that we play well on Friday. We've got to find a way to get in the mix. We certainly don't want to start 0-2 and have our backs against the wall."
Last year, Central went 4-2 in district and all four wins were by eights points or less.
"I think it's going to be one of those years where the ball has to bounce right and you've got to play well each week, and it was that way last year," Davis said.
Charles Bryce is a journalist covering sports in West Texas. Send him a news tip at cbryce@gannett.com. Consider supporting West Texas journalism with a subscription to GoSanAngelo.com.