DAWG BITES

-Wylie falls behind in the first half for third time in four district games and can’t recover

-The Bulldogs surrender more than 500 yards on defense

-Wylie’s Blaze Ruffin runs back a kickoff for a touchdown and sets up his team’s other score with a 37-yard catch

Wichita Falls Memorial rejoined the party Friday night.

On a night that saw the visiting team win all three games in a topsy turvy District 2-5A, the Mavericks burst back into the postseason conversation by galloping to an emphatic 45-14 win over Wylie at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.

The win avenged last year’s 45-42 loss in Wichita Falls on a walk-off field goal and thrust the Mavs back into a chaotic district race.

Surprising Palo Duro, however, maintained its firm grip on first place with the Dons rallying for a 36-33 win at Lubbock-Cooper. PD did not make the playoffs in 2024.

Meanwhile, Abilene Cooper (3-1) moved into second place by outscoring Plainview 56-43 on the road. That game was tied at 28 before the Coogs pulled away.

Four games into the district season and nothing is settled.

Wylie lost a chance to keep pace with the two teams now ahead in the standings.

“We didn’t play good,” coach Clay Martin simply put it. “We have to play better.”

Wylie is off next week, then travels to Woodrow to face a Lubbock-Cooper team that shockingly sits at the bottom of the standings and, like Wylie, is 4-4 overall.

“We’re in the same situation a lot of other teams are,” Martin said. “We’re coming off two tough losses. We have to respond and get it going again.”

MAVERICKS DOMINATE

If just about everything went right for the Mavericks, it went wrong for Wylie.

The Bulldogs again fell behind and were unable to catch up. It was 14-0 at halftime only because the Mavericks made a rare mistake. A late drive stalled and a field goal try was muffed on the last play of the half.

Memorial, however, got the football to start the second half and picked up where it left off in the first half. The Mavericks drove 75 yards in six plays to take a 21-0 lead on talented quarterback Joe Castles’ third touchdown pass.

It was a killer, too.

The Bulldogs gave up a first down but stiffened at midfield thanks to a tackle for loss by Deandre Rodriguez and Carter Nelson. But on fourth down, Castles went deep to a wide-open running back Eric Powell. Powell beat linebacker Bo Kates, who had just made a nice stop on third down.

“We would’ve liked to stop them coming out of halftime,” Martin said.

Castles and Powell were a potent 1-2 punch for Memorial.

Castles, an Abilene Christian University commit, threw for 314 yards and four scores. Powell rushed for 122 yards on 22 carries and scored twice.

Overall, Memorial piled up 509 total yards, the most given up by Wylie this season. The Mavs registered 25 first downs - three consecutive on their opening drive - and had a whopping 18 plays of more than 10 yards.

“Blocking and tackling, blocking and tackling,” Martin said. ”They did a better job of that tonight.”

BULLDOGS GOT CLOSER TWICE

That big play might have been the final bell for Wylie but the Bulldogs weren’t giving in.

Blaze Ruffin returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for his team’s first special teams touchdown of the season. He went to his right, slipped a tackle at the sideline and raced unchallenged the rest of the way.

“The ball bounced right to me and we were return right and I just got out into space and got us a touchdown,” he said of his first kickoff return ever. Memorial previously had kicked into the end zone. “We got momentum back.”

That made it a two-score game again just four minutes into the second half.

It was Ruffin to the rescue again. Sent in on defense, he used his receiver skills to intercept Castles on a jump-ball play with Kaedyn Johnson at the Wylie 40.

“I play a little corner when they need me,” Ruffin said. “Stay with your man and when he turns for the ball, you get it yourself and that’s exactly what I did.”

And, as if Superman in purple, Ruffin came up big again.

Quarterback Jadin Karleskint, who was under duress in the pocket all night, got good blocking and fired 47 yards downfield to Ruffin, who made another contested catch.

But instead of setting up at the Memorial 13, the play was wiped out by a holding call.

The game unraveled from there.

Wylie had to punt but with no one back, Memorial let Karleskint’s kick go to the 9.

However, the officials ordered a rekick due to an inadvertent whistle.

This time, Memorial began at its 27 and drove to a field goal to make it 24-7.

Wylie got a good kickoff return from Michael Pena-Perez on a short kick to set up at its 43. One last gasp of hope when Karleskint went 35 yards to - you guessed it - Ruffin to the Mavs’ 9. Karleskint threw 9 yards to Dylan Regala on the first play of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 24-14.

“We had our chances,” Martin said.

That was enough, apparently, for Memorial.

The Mavs went 65 yards in three plays after the kickoff, with Castles hitting Johnson on a slant to make it 31-14. Memorial would score twice more to inflate the final score.

“We just weren’t able to narrow the gap,” Martin said.

BATTERED BULLDOGS

While Martin gave credit to Memorial, injuries also had a role in the loss.

Behind a shuffled offensive line, Wylie rushed for only 62 yards. The total was that good only because Cooper Jones, in the game for the Bulldogs’ final drive, rushed six times for 46 yards.

Wylie notched four of its 13 first downs on that drive.

Senior running back Julius Laine, who gouged Memorial for more than 200 yards in last year’s win, gained 10 yards on seven carries.

Wylie twice was stopped on fourth down in Memorial territory, and another promising drive that reached the Mavs’ 26 ended when Karleskint was blindsided by Dean and fumbled.

Senior center Barrett Huffington, the anchor of the offensive line, did not suit up. Wyatt Gilliam stepped up to take his place.

“It doesn’t matter,” Martin said of his team’s ineffective ground game. “We’ve got to come up with a better plan. We’ve got to be able to run the football and we were unable to do that early in the game.

“We’ve got to do a better job … I’ve got to do a better job of getting us prepared.”

Ruffin was a singular bright spot for Wylie. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown, intercepted a pass, had 96 yards receiving on six catches and even threw a pass - incomplete - on a trick play.

The Bulldogs also lost defensive lineman Rodriguez, who had been battling an injury, in the second half.

TIME TO RESET, LIKE MEMORIAL DID

Wylie gets a week off to regroup and to heal. The Bulldogs likely will face another desperate team in Woodrow, with the preseason favorite Pirates on the verge of missing the playoffs.

Encouraging to Wylie may be the fact that Memorial shook off a two-game losing streak after a week off and played perhaps its best game of the year on the road.

“They came with a fight,” Ruffin said. “We just didn’t get it done tonight.”

Wylie has two more district games to settle its playoff fate.

“We’re going back to work,” Martin said. “We’re not taking our equipment up yet. A well-needed off week to prepare for the next one.”

Ruffin said the team’s preparation for Lubbock-Cooper was beginning Saturday.

“With that bye, we’ll be set and ready,” Ruffin said. “Play a strong opponent and come up with a win.”

Martin also was upbeat despite the tough loss.

“We’ll rebound from this,” he said.

YARDSTICK

WYLIE MEMORIAL
First downs 13 25
Rushing 21-62 26-195
A-C-Int 17-23-0 20-25-1
Passing 167 314
Total offense 229 509
Punting 3-36.0 0-0
Fumbles/lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties 6-51 6-55

SCORING
Memorial 7 7 10 21 - 45
Wylie 0 0 7 7 - 14

First quarter
MHS - Eric Powell 22 pass from Joe Castles (Jackson Bohannon kick), 6:47
Second quarter
MHS - Jamari Dean 28 pass from Castles (Bohannon kick), 11:19
Third quarter
MHS - Powell 50 pass from Castles (Bohannon kick), 8:11
Wylie - Blaze Ruffin 90 kickoff return (Noah Rehburg kick), 7:58
MHS - Bohannon 37 FG, 0:08
Fourth quarter
Wylie - Dylan Regala 9 pass from Jadin Karleskint (Rehburg kick), 11:54
MHS - Kaedyn Johnson 24 pass from Castles (Bohannon kick), 11:24
MHS - Powell 6 run (Bohannon kick), 7:25
MHS - Powell 15 run (Bohannon kick), 2:46

WYLIE INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing - Cooper Jones, 6-34; Julius Laine, 7-10; Jadin Karleskint, 7-4, Dylan Regala, 1-2
Passing - Karleskint, 17-22-0-167; Blaze Ruffin, 0-1-0-0.
Receiving - Ruffin, 6-96; Regala, 6-53-1; Laine 2-3; Jackston Williams, 2-3; Jayden Naemi, 1-12.

DISTRICT 2-5A STANDINGS
Team District W L PF PA Season W L PF PA
Am. Palo Duro 3 0 126 74 6 1 244 105
Ab. Cooper 3 1 186 115 5 3 342 214
Wylie 2 2 123 133 4 4 252 223
WF Memorial 1 2 78 104 5 2 254 192
Plainview 1 2 140 156 3 4 288 323
WF Legacy 1 2 106 136 2 5 151 299
Lub-Cooper 1 3 142 183 4 4 299 302

Week 8
WF Memorial 45, Wylie 14
Amarillo Palo Duro 36,Lubbock-Cooper 33
Abilene Cooper 56, Plainview 43
WF Legacy open

Week 9
Plainview at Palo Duro
Lubbock-Cooper at WF Memorial
WF Legacy at Abilene Cooper
Wylie open