DAWG BITES

-Wylie scores just 13 first-half points due to three turnovers

-Julius Laine logs 171 rushing yards and three TDs

-The Bulldogs score 22 fourth-quarter points to pull away

WICHITA FALLS - Lubbock-Cooper found out.

Top 10-ranked Wichita Falls Memorial found out.

Wylie found out, too.

The only difference between those District 2-5A teams, favored to win Friday night, was the Bulldogs won a football game.

Despite three first-half turnovers and the inspired play of 1-3 Wichita Falls Legacy, Wylie pulled away from a narrow 23-17 lead early in the fourth quarter to take down the Leopards 45-24 at Memorial Stadium.

The Pirates, however, were stunned 37-22 by Plainview while the Mavericks, ranked No. 10 by Texas Football Magazine, fell in Abilene to Cooper, 42-27.

Wylie coach Clay Martin wasn’t kidding when he said the district was tougher top to bottom this year. He expected Legacy to put up a fight.

“We knew they would,” he said after the game. “That first district game, everyone is 0-0. If you ever think this game is going to be easy, you’re kidding yourself.”

The Bulldogs and Cooper Cougars put their 1-0 records on the line next at Hugh Sandifer Stadium. Wylie has won three straight against their Southtown rival.

“We’ve been saying it for a long time. This district is going to be extremely deep,” Martin said. “Everybody is going to bounce back and it’s going to be a dogfight.”

NOT SO FAST

While some expected a blowout win Friday, Wylie instead had to work into the final quarter to secure its win over Legacy.

The Bulldogs scored three touchdowns over a span of 4:50 in the quarter to turn a six-point lead into a 28-point advantage.

It didn’t go so well in the first half.

The Bulldogs elected to take the football to start the game with the intent of putting the Leopards in a hole.

The decision was a good one but it fizzled.

The kickoff was returned by Landry Pate to the Legacy 43. But a first-down deep pass to freshman Jackston Williams, just called up to the varsity, just missed and three running plays netted only three yards as Wichita Falls held on fourth down.

The series was a preview of how the first half would go for error-plagued Wylie.

The Bulldogs lost two fumbles, including a disputed fumble by Blaze Ruffin at the Legacy 2 at the end of a 53-yard gain. Da’Kendrick Jones, who caught Laine on his long run, tracked down Ruffin and knocked the football loose. Terrell Jones took it 25 yards upfield.

In the second quarter, Wylie was driving but quarterback Jadin Karleskint, who had success on crossing patterns, was intercepted by Jones, who jumped the route.

The Leopards in the final 2:30 of the first half used the short pass to set up a field goal in the final minute.

The Bulldogs also failed to convert a two-point conversion after scoring their second touchdown. That missing point loomed ominously in a close game until Bo Kates ran in a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter.

“Stuff like that happens in football games,” Martin said of his team’s uncharacteristic play. “You’ve got to deal with adversity. We fumbled the ball going into the end zone, we got a couple of turnovers, made some mistakes but, you know, everybody’s going crazy but we’re still up 13-10 at halftime.

“We’re still ahead and all is good.”

Still, the Bulldogs used the break to regroup.

“I was really proud of our kids. We went in at halftime and made some really good adjustments,” Martin said. “They were giving us some things we hadn’t seen. II was proud of the way our coaches adjusted “

Junior linebacker Cooper Hill, who had some big plays, agreed.

He said Legacy “showed out in the first half but in the second half we made some adjustments and it worked out really well.”

SECOND HALF WAS BETTER

Ahead by just three points at halftime, then only 23-17 after Ja’Ravion Neal broke loose untouched on a 32-yard touchdown run for Legacy, the Bulldogs turned to their offensive line and senior running back Julius Jones, and used an interception by senior Jordan Lockett to nail down the win in what was a physical game.

Wylie had scored 14 fourth-quarter points in four games; the Bulldogs put up 22 in this game.

Jones rushed for 171 yards - his season best - and showed flashes of what he has done over three years on the varsity.

Seeing a chasm in the line, Laine dashed untouched 35 yards for a touchdown just after halftime.

Later, he got caught up in traffic inside after taking the handoff, bounced to his left and was off down the home sideline for a big gain. He didn’t score, but the 50-yard jaunt set up his 1-yard run to make it 31-17.

“I was trusting my instinct, and my instincts said to run, run, run,” he said. “It felt good to have my first big run of the year.”

Laine scored three TDs to boost his season total to nine.

“I thank the coaches for giving me the opportunity to ball out,” said Laine, who had his biggest game since the season opener. He went over 100 yards for just the second time.

But even he was bottled up at the start.

“We were in a panic mode in the first half,” Laine said. “I talked to God and he gave me the resolution to stick to what I’m good at. Run people over and trust my linemen to do their job.

“That’s why there are two halves. At halftime, we fixed up what was wrong and executed in the second half.”

FINISHING IT

Ahead by two touchdowns, the Bulldogs scored twice more, first on a 27-yard pass from Karleskint to Ruffin, standing wide open in the left corner of the end zone.

Back on the field after missing three games, Dylan Regala ran nine yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to make it 45-17.

Regala had an up and down night. He caught nine passes and ran 9 yards for his third touchdown of the season. But he also fumbled the ball away on a run and fortunately turned another bobble into a gain.

“Just rust, just trying to get back into it,” he said. “It was a good first game back. I didn’t get injured and I feel good now.

“I need to work on catching the ball, I guess.”

He might have been trying to do too much, and perhaps his team was, too.

“Overthinking it,” he said. At halftime, he said, “everyone knew we weren’t playing to our best and we all just took a reset. We figured it out.”

Wylie was able to pull starters and with its first-team offense still on the field, Legacy marched 56 yards in eight plays to score with 4 minutes to play.

The Bulldogs put backups Cooper Jones and Jonah Holmes into the game and they combined for 44 rushing yards before Holmes took a knee to end the game.

Wylie amassed 480 yards on offense, with Karleskint contributing 186 yards passing

Legacy did not get a first down until its touchdown drive in the second quarter and had five of its 12 on the late scoring drive with reserves in the game for Wylie on defense.

The Leopards were held to 44 rushing yards, that total boosted by Neal’s 32-yard touchdown run. That was Legacy’s longest play of the game.

Hodges, using the rollout effectively, threw for 181 yards on 18 completions.

Martin said Legacy turned to its best athletes and created space to use them effectively.

“I thought we played well defensively,” Martin said. “You have to give (Legacy) credit. They had a good game plan.”

The Leopards had 225 total yards.

Da’Kendrick Jones was a thorn in Wylie’s side, catching three passes for 45 yards, logging an interception and being key on the Ruffin fumble near the Leopards’ goal line.

“We had a few missed assignments but we’ll come back from it,” Hill said. “We learned that we can always make adjustments.”

YARDSTICK

WYLIE LEGACY
First downs 23 12
Rushing 40-294 21-44
A-C-Int 18-26-1 18-30-1
Passing 186 181
Total offense 480 225
Punting 1-34.0 7-28.1
Fumbles/lost 4-2 200
Penalties 5-35 6-49

SCORING
Wylie 7 6 10 22 - 45
WF Legacy 0 10 7 7 - 24

First quarter
Wylie - Blaze Ruffin 17 pass from Jadin Karleskint (Noah Rehburg kick), 4:21
Second quarter
Wylie - Julius Laine 1 run (run failed), 10:19
Leg - Da’Kendrick Jones 12 pass from Knox Hodges (Rohan Van Der Zanden kick), 8:29
Leg - Van Der Zanden 38 FG, 0:57
Third quarter
Wylie - Laine 35 run (Rehburg kick), 8:57
Wylie - Rehburg 35 FG, 3:30
Leg - Ja’Ravion Neal 32 run (Van Der Zanden kick), 0:08
Fourth quarter
Wylie - Laine 1 run (Kates run), 11:26
Wylie - Ruffin 13 pass from Karleskint (Rehburg kick), 8:42
Wylie - Dylan Regala 9 run (Rehburg kick kick), 6:36
Leg - Jourian Wiggins 16 pass from Hodges (Van Der Zanden kick), 4”00

WYLIE INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing - Julius Laine, 19-171-3; Cooper Jones, 9-60; Dylan Regala, 4-29; Jadin Karleskint, 6-29; Jonah Holmes 1-8.. Team, 1-minus 3.
Passing - Karleskint, 18-26-186-1-2
Receiving - Dylan Regala, 9-59; Blaze Ruffin, 5-109-2; Laine, 3-18; Wyatt Kidman, 1-0.

DISTRICT 2-5A STANDINGS
Team District Season
W L Pts. Def. W L Pts. Def.
Wylie 1 0 45 24 3 2 174 114
Ab. Cooper 1 0 42 27 2 2 198 126
Plainview 1 0 37 22 2 2 185 189
Am. Palo Duro 0 0 0 0 3 1 118 31
Lub-Cooper 0 1 22 37 3 1 179 156
WF Legacy 0 1 24 45 1 3 69 208
WF Memorial 0 1 27 42 4 0 203 130

WEEK 5
Wylie 45, Wichita Falls Legacy 24
Abilene Cooper 42, Wichita Falls Memorial 27
Plainview 37, Lubbock Cooper 22
Palo Duro open

WEEK 6
Abilene Cooper at Wylie
Wichita Falls Legacy at Lubbock-Cooper
Palo Duro at Wichita Falls Memorial
Plainview open