DAWG BITES

- Wylie scores touchdowns on its first six possessions for a 42-0 halftime lead

- Monterey had 3 yards of offense in the first half

- Receivers Blaze Ruffin and Jackston Williams each surpass 100 yards and combine for four touchdowns

LUBBOCK - One play encapsulated the Wylie Bulldogs’ dominance of Lubbock Monterey here Friday night.

In the fourth quarter, facing fourth down from the Bulldogs 41, the snap to punter Myles McCarty sailed over his head. It bounded toward the Wylie goal line before McCarty corralled it. No Plainsmen were pouncing, however, so McCarty calmly kicked the football. He boomed it, and it rolled dead at the Monterey 17.

Potential disaster turned into Wylie’s best punt on the night - 42 yards.

On the other hand, Monterey’s Cam Martinez rocketed a 61-yard punt that rolled to the the Wylie 1. The Bulldogs promptly drove 99 yards in seven plays - passes of 42 and 33 to sophomore Jackston Williams were key plays - to score.

It was that kind of game for the Bulldogs, who scored touchdowns on their first six possessions, made few mistakes, and totally dominated Monterey 49-3 in a non-district game at Lowrey Field.

It was 42-0 at halftime and while the Plainsmen had rallied the week before to edge Coronado 36-35, there were no heroics this week. Coach Clay Martin substituted liberally in the second, turning the offense over to McCarty. The defense gave up some yards but yielded only a field goal.

The outcome was a far cry from the week before.

“Just really proud of our kids. We went back to work and had a good week of practice,” coach Clay Martin said. “Monterey is a good team but I thought we just executed better. I was proud of the way we rebounded and the resilience we showed.

Ironically, McCarty was involved in Wylie’s only other major misstep. A snap to him in the shotgun went over his head and he had to fall on the ball for a 16-yard loss. McCarty had just come into the game late in the second quarter for starter Jadin Karleskint, who already had thrown four touchdown passes and completed all 13 throws.

Wylie had to punt but Monterey fumbled to Kutter Womack. McCarty trotted back out and threw 22 yards to Dylan Regala and then 29 yards into the end to Blaze Ruffin for the TD with 41 seconds to go in the half.

If Wylie made a mistake Friday, the Bulldogs responded in the affirmative.

There were few errors. Wylie did not turn over the football in the game and had 343 total yards to three for Monterey at halftime.

Who knows … it could’ve been Wylie’s best half of football ever. And it came after a disappointing 13-7 loss to Brownwood at home in the season opener.

To take some edge off that loss, the Lions led defending Class 4A Division I champion Stephenville in the fourth quarter Friday before losing 28-24.

The Yellow Jackets come to Sandifer Stadium in two weeks.

Wylie first will take the same route back to Lubbock this week, sliding over to Wolfforth to take on Frenship. The Tigers, after clobbering Lubbock-Cooper 50-17 in Week 1, fell 44-13 to Liberty.

Martin was pleased to see his team’s improvement.

“We just performed better. The second week a lot of times is the biggest jump, and I think that showed tonight,” he said.

But it’s just Game 2.

“We’re going to go right back to work in the morning and keep building the Wylie Bulldogs,” Martin said.

THIS TIME, WYLIC CASHES IN

Some wonder what the outcome of the Brownwood game would have been if Wylie’s opening-drive touchdown had not been called back or a missed goal made.

Against Monterey, Wylie scored on its first drive when Karleskint went deep down the middle to Blaze Ruffin for a 61-yard pass-and-catch touchdown. Ruffin outbattled his defender for the ball, then took it into the end zone.

It was Wylie’s first lead of the year.

Ruffin, who had three catches for 25 yards against Brownwood, had four against Monterey - three going for scores.. He dove to his left to make a 10-yard grab in the end zone, then teamed with McCarty for the sophomore’s first varsity TD pass. Ruffin totaled 124 yards and showed off his 2025 abilities.

Maylon Green-Rhodes got his first Bulldogs touchdown on the next drive, set up by what looked to be a fake punt by Martinez. The kicker rolled to his right to kick, hesitated, then tried to run. He was smothered by Landry Pate and Carter Nelson at his 12. Wylie punched it in on third down.

The Bulldogs scored on their next possession on Karleskint’s pass to Ruffin and Wylie led 21-0 with 3:50 still remaining in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Karleskint hit Williams on a post route in the end zone.

It was his first varsity TD.

“Very special,” the sophomore said. “It took a little longer than I expected but I just came out here and did my job.

“This will keep me elevated and motivated.”

It just got worse for Monterey, which alternated quarterbacks. Freshman Hayden Dewbre started but was briefly knocked out of the game. Receiver E’Davion Taylor, who rallied the Plainsmen by Coronado the week before after taking over for Dewbre, had no magic this time. Wylie constantly pressured whoever was the quarterback.

After getting a first down on its first drive, Monterey followed with five three-and-outs and a lost fumble.

The usual Wylie vs. Monterey tussle was not meant to be.

FINISHING OFF THE BIG WIN

The second half had to be played, but the outcome was settled.

Karleskint played a couple of series before turning it over to McCarty.

McCarty admitted he didn’t expect to play so much.

“Jadin did a great job first of all of getting us the lead and I just came in … and I got to go in and do my thing.,” McCarty said. “Credit the line and the receivers - they did amazing.”

He said he was able to shake off the snap going over his head and get to work.

“Bad snap, so what. Coach talks about resilience.Things happen and you just got to come back,” McCarty said. “The line did great. Next time, they gave me time to make a throw.”

Running back Cooper Jones, who tallied Wylie’s first rushing touchdown of the season in the second quarter on a wide-open 15 yard dash around left end, carried four straight times on the Bulldogs’ opening drive.

On third down, Karleskint threw incomplete to Blake Frailing. It was his first official miss - a couple of incompletions were negated by penalties.

Monterey mounted its only scoring drive of the game on its first possession as Dewbre looked more comfortable, nailing a couple of completions. The Plainsmen went from their 43 to the Wylie 16. On third down, Nelson and Jake Smart stopped running back Legin Williams for a two-yard loss.

Looking for something positive, the Plainsmen turned to Martinez for the field goal to get points on the scoreboard.

Against Wylie subs, Monterey reached the Wylie 24 and 18 on two other second-half drives. On the first, Brady Johnson couldn’t hang on to a potential interception. On the second, Dewbre missed Mikel Strong in the right corner of the end zone with 6 seconds to play.

McCarty took a knee, and Wylie’s bounce-back win was in the books.

“Those guys going in there and making a stand, that is good for our team. Guys that got a chance really performed well,” Martin said. “Last week, I thought we had times we could’ve played a little better. I thought tonight that when everybody went in and had an opportunity, they played as hard as they could.”

Monterey finished with 159 total yards - 156 in the second half - to almost 500 for Wylie, which held a 24-7 advantage in first downs.

Wylie had two receivers over 100 yards- Blaze Ruffin and Williams, with 106.

McCarty completed all four of his passes for 59 yards. Wylie threw five passes in the second half, none in the fourth quarter.

While Karleskint and McCarty threw the ball well, Wylie’s receives also made great catches, sometime outbattling a defender and other teams lunging for the ball

“Quarterbacks are the ones who put it in the receivers’ hands but sometimes you’ve got to go for them. That’s our job, and we’re always there for them,” Williams said.

Jones had 77 yards rushing and Jett Wilson 50.

The only down note for Wylie was losing senior Landry Pate to an ankle injury sustained on a short catch in the first half. He did return to action. Pate had two sacks on defense in the Brownwood game.

MOMENTUM BUILDER

The Bulldogs savored the fast win after last week’s slow start.

“Amazing. Last week didn’t turn out how we wanted it but we bounced back,” Williams said. “All that matters is the next game, the next play.”

LInebacker Carter had a strong game, as did the Wylie defense. The Bulldogs have given up 16 points in two games and just one touchdown.

“The defense always has been good. We’re a team that never stops going but at the beginning of this game, I thought I’d let loose a little bit,” he said. “Just fly down the field.”

Wylie’s showing, he said, “puts us in a good position for next week and gives us a lot of confidence. We have Frenship and going into that game, if we play like we did tonight, I think it will be good.”

YARDSTICK
MHS WHS
First downs 7 24
Rushing 24-33 38-168
A-C-Int 10-24-0 19-21-0
Passing 126 307
Total offense 159 473
Punting 5-41.0 3-21.7
Fumbles/lost 3-1 2-0
Penalties 3-17 6-60

SCORE BY QUARTERS
WHS 21 21 0 7 - 49
MHS 0 0 3 0 - 3

SCORING
First quarter
WHS - Blaze Ruffin 61 pass from Jadin Karleskint (Kannon Ruffin kick), 7:45
WHS - Maylon Green-Rhodes 11 pass from Karleskint (K. Ruffin kick), 6:20
WHS - Ruffin 10 pass from Karleskint (K. Ruffin kick), 3:50
Second quarter
WHS - Jackston Williams 20 pass from Karleskint (K. Ruffin kick), 9:51
WHS - Cooper Jones 15 run (K. Ruffin kick), 4:40
WHS - Ruffin 29 pass from Myles McCarty (K. Ruffin kick), 0:41
Third quarter
MHS - Cam Martinez 35 FG, 6:10
Fourth quarter
WHS - McCarty 1 run (K. Ruffin kick), 9:51

WYLIE INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing - Cooper Jones 12-77-1; Jett Wilson 9-50; Jadin Karleskint 4-19; Kory Gibson 4-18; Dylan Regala 3-12; Myles McCarty 4-12; team 2-minus 22

Passing - Karleskint 15-17-248-0-4; McCarty 4-4-59-0-1

Receiving - Blaze Ruffin 4-124-3; Williams 4-106-1; Regala 3-39; Maylon Green-Rhodes 2-14-1; Landry Pate 2-13; Jett Wilson 1-6; Aaron Edwards 1-5; Cooper Jones 1-0.

2026 DISTRICT 2-5A STANDINGS
Team District Season
W L PF PA W L PF PA
WF Legacy 0 0 0 0 2 0 80 37
Wylie 0 0 0 0 1 1 56 16
Am. Palo Duro 0 0 0 0 1 1 35 24
Lub. Coronado 0 0 0 0 1 1 56 46
WF Memorial 0 0 0 0 1 1 88 69
Ab. Cooper 0 0 0 0 0 2 30 42
Lub-Cooper 0 0 0 0 0 2 32 75

FRIDAY'S GAMES
Wylie 49, Lubbock Monterey 3
Palo Duro 28, Amarillo Caprock 3
Abilene High 14, Abilene Cooper 6
Greenwood 25, Lubbock-Cooper 15
WF Legacy 56, FW Eastern Hills 16
Canyon Randall 35, FW Memorial 34
Coronado 21, Lubbock High 10

THIS WEEK
Wylie at Frenship
Abilene Cooper at San Angelo Central
Palo Duro vs. Amarillo Tascosa
Lubbock-Cooper at Stephenville
Lubbock Monterey at WF Legacy
Decatur at WF Memorial
Frenship Memorial at Coronado