DAWG BITES

- Wylie holds high-scoring Memorial scoreless in the second half

- Jadin Karleskint throws for three more touchdowns, two to Jackston Williams

- Jett Wilson has his best game rushing, totaling a game-high 125 yards

An onside kick may be crucial to the outcome of a game but rarely does it set the tone as the opening kickoff.

The Wylie Bulldogs perfectly executed its trickery - it is the month of Halloween, to be sure - on the opening kickoff and scored five plays later to play from ahead start to finish in a key 27-13 District 2-5A victory over Wichita Falls Memorial on Friday night at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.

The play was one of several firsts for the Bulldogs. Defensive standout Bo Kates completed his first pass of the year out of the “box” formation, senior Ben Vail played for the first time this season, receiver Jackston Williams caught two touchdown passes in a game for the first time, and Wylie (4-2) won its first home game after two losses.

Most importantly, the Bulldogs (2-0 in 2-5A) set up a showdown for first place Friday in Amarillo against defending champion Palo Duro (3-0). The Dons destroyed Coronado 55-0 in a Thursday night game. PD took a last-minute win over Wylie last year at Dick Bivins Stadium.

“I’m proud of our kids the way we handled adversity, the poise that we showed,” coach Clay Martin said, referring to first-half mistakes that helped keep Wylie grounded - two field goals instead of touchdowns - and Memorial in the game.

“We had some busts (on defense) in the first half. We weren’t doing our job and made some adjustments at halftime. Both our coordinators, Matt (Kates) and Jason (Meng) did a great job and we went on to get a great victory.”

TRICK TURNS TO WYLIE TREAT

Before some fans were seated, Wylie had the football after deferring to the second half at the coin flip..

Kicker Kannon Ruffin bounced the football perfectly, not from an onside setup, but approaching the ball as if to boom it. He had to send it to the left side.

Meanwhile, Jett Wilson, who rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time, was to cross the field and go full speed after the ball. It landed in a dead zone in Memorial’s kickoff receive formation and Wilson was on it. He could not advance the ball but Wylie had it at the Mavericks’ 42.

The Bulldogs had worked on the play in practice but Ruffin had trouble getting the ball to land where it needed to be out of a non-onside kick formation.

“Just having confidence in myself to execute what we were trying to do all week,” he said. “It was great that we were able to pull it off. “

Wilson said his teammate was having trouble getting the ball kicked sideways 10 yards in practice but “today he got it and I knew I had to go down there and get it.”

Special teams had their moments is a surprisingly low-scoring game.

“We executed in all three phases of the game tonight,” Kannon Ruffin said.

Just 1:48 into the game.

Said Martin, “That was something our guys schemed up and we thought we had an advantage there. We did an excellent job of executing it.”

Wilson rushed three times to the 14 before a holding penalty set the Bulldogs back 10 yards. No problem, though, because Karleskint found Williams all alone in the end zone for a touchdown just 1:48 into the game.

The rest of the first half was a battle as Memorial, which came in averaging close to 50 points a game, got its double-threat offense going. The Mavericks scored with 49 seconds left in the half as quarterback Cole Birkhead, who was averaging about 300 passing a game, went to Finesse Stewart for 15 yards. Stewart, who was wide open on the play to the left, caught his first pass of the season.

That tied the game at 13 going into halftime.

DEFENSE RISES TO THE CHALLENGE

Despite the low scoring, fans may have expected the game to open up in the second half.

It did not.

Wylie’s defense, which had its lapses in the first half, turned stingy as Scrooge.

Wichita Falls got the ball x times:

Three and out

Three and out

Three and out

Six plays, one first down, and stopped for a 2-yard loss on fourth down from its 32

The Mavs had the one first down and totaled 33 yards. Facing constant pressure and having the throw the football away several times, Birkhead was 3-for-9 for 12 yards after throwing for almost 200 yards in the first half.

“Coming out in the second half, playing the way we did, especially on the defensive side of the ball, shutting a team like that out says a lot about our defense,” Martin said.

The Wylie coach said the game likely would tip on play at the line of scrimmage.

He complimented Memorial for slowing his team in the first half “but we really took over in the second half,” he said.

“We practiced all week for this,” said Jaxon Wristen, an offensive lineman. “We got in our reps and we put that into the game. I think we did very well tonight. Me and Sut (Sutton Stephenson), Mac (Brecheen), Greedy (Daniel Haynes) and Mason (Brooks), we’re all great friends and we work very well together.

“At half, we had a good talk. The game’s zero-zero and we have to come out and fix the little mistakes. We did, and the result shows on the scoreboard.”

Winning the line of scrimmage was essential for Wylie. Offensively, that led to two touchdowns and defensively, that led to getting Wichita Falls out of its game.

Wylie came into the game giving up most of its points in the second half. To be fair, some of those were scored when first-teamers were on the sidelines. But shutting down and shutting out Memorial was big on a night that defense was expected to be exploited by both teams.

The Bulldogs stalled on their first drive in the second half but took the lead with a 92-yard drive that took nine plays. A 14-yard run by Cooper Jones, who was back from an injury but saw limited carries, got Wylie out the hole. A 19-yard completion to Jackston and 13-yard to Jayden Naemi moved the ball into Memorial territory.

Karleskint, who darted for yardage more in the second half, got nine before putting the football up for grabs in the end zone. The target was Blaze Ruffin who wins those battles. Ruffin and his defender came down together and wrestled for several seconds before the official signaled Ruffin had earned possession.

Who had the ball?

“I did. He tried to take it from me. I don’t know how I came down with it but I did, and I was glad to get points for the team,” Blaze Ruffin said.

It was their 10th TD hookup this season.

The Bulldogs salted the game away with a touchdown on their next drive, scoring 3 seconds into the fourth quarter on a 3-yard pass on third down from Karleskint rolling to his right to find Willaims. Kannon Ruffin’s kick made it 27-13 with a quarter to play.

That would be plenty of time for Memorial to mount a comeback but Wylie turned in another 3-and-out and then killed clock with a drive that netted three first downs before a punt with 5:08 to play.

The Bulldogs again held tight after surrendering their only first down, and it was game over as Wylie would kneel twice to end the game.

WAIT, IT'S NOT OVER

Or not.

With 1 second remaining, Wylie called timeout to set up a 33-yard field goal. Kannon Ruffin, however, missed it after making 31- and 45-yarders earlier.

Martin was not rubbing it in. In the event of ties in the standings, points matter. Wylie was up 14 on Memorial; a kick would give the Bulldogs the maximum of 15.

The kick would’ve been icing on the cake, but Wylie still came away with cake.

“It was a really big win for us,” Martin said.

It also was a big game for players who have been out. One of those was linebacker Landry Pate, who played solidly on defense despite battling the flu this week. He even got one carry on offense.

“It was great but I didn’t think I would get to play too much,” Pate said. “But obviously I did.”

Pate said he used his down time to study for the game and said he and the Bulldogs were ready for what Memorial was going to do on offense.

“You just have to learn and go for it,” he said.

Martin said it was great to be back to close to full strength.

“For those to come back and play the way they did was a big help,” Martin said.

TIGHT GAME TO START

Wylie got two first-half field goals from Kannon Ruffin, including a career-long 45-yarder to give his team a 13-6 lead with 4:43 left in the first half. Wylie missed a chance for a touchdown.

Kutter Ramiro had blocked a Mavericks punt and Wylie started at the Wichita Falls 32. The Bulldogs got to the 4 but Williams lost three yards and Karleskint was flagged for grounding to push the ball out of the red zone.

The Mavericks showed their ability with an 81-yard drive highlighted by a 38-yard completion to Wuthrich. Memorial got to the 13 but Wuthrich lost 2 yards before Birkhead went to Stewart for the TD that tied the game at halftime.

The Bulldogs finished with 355 total yards with its most balanced offensive effort of the season. Wylie rushed for 181 yards and passed for 174.

Karleskint was an efficient 12-for-18 for 160 yards and three TDs, giving him 17 on the season. Of his dozen competitions, eight went for more than 10 yards.

He added 39 yards rushing.

Wilson, who wears No. 22, rushed 22 times The rest of the team combined for 15 rushes, excluding the kneels.

“It felt amazing,” Wilson said of his workout. He credited the O-line for giving him room to roam.

“They were really good,” he said.

Williams was Karleskint’s go-to, catching five passes for 61 yards. He caught another long pass down the Memorial sideline but an illegal touching penalty erased the gain.

Memorial, which had 238 yards at halftime, finished at 271. Wylie was tough against the run, giving up just 70 yards. Gage Wuthrich, who averages close to 100 yards a game, gained 79 on 19 carries.

Birkhead was 16-for-37 for 206 yards. Izaeah Foster had 10 grabs for 111 yards but was kept out of the end zone. Krew Bailey, one of Birkhead’s favorite targets, had five catches but was out of the game for a time after taking a big hit on an incompletion.

There were no turnovers in the game aside from the blocked punt. Another stellar Wylie play came when Dylan Regala downed a Myles McCarty punt at the Mavs 1.

Memorial got out of the jam but then came the blocked punt that led to more Wylie points.

YARDSTICK
Mem Wylie
First downs 13 20
Rushing 22-70 39-181
A-C-Int 17-38-0 13-19-0
Passing 201 174
Total offense 271 355
Punting 5-33.8 3-41.3
Fumbles/lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties 5-40 11-98

SCORE BY QUARTERS
Mem 6 7 0 0 - 13
Wylie 10 3 7 7 - 27

SCORING
First quarter
Wylie - Jackston Williams 24 pass from Jadin Karleskint (Kannon Ruffin kick), 10:12
WF - Grayson Smith 32 FG, 5:56
WF - Smith 23 FG, 2:17
Wylie - Kannon Ruffin 31 FG, 0:06
Second quarter
Wylie - K. Ruffin 45 FG, 4:43
WF - Finesse Stewart 15 pass from Cole Birkhead (Smith kick), 0:49
Third quarter
Wylie - Blaze Ruffin 25 pass from Karleskint (K. Ruffin kick), 5:34
Fourth quarter
Wylie - Williams 3 pass from Karleskint (K. Ruffin kick), 11:57

WYLIE INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing - Jett Wilson, 22-125; Jadin Karleskint, 6-39; Cooper Jones, 4-14; Dylan Regala, 4-11; Landry Pate, 1-1. Team 2-minus 9

Passing - Karleskint, 12-18-160-0-3; Bo Kates, 1-1-14-0-0.

Receiving - Jackston Williams, 5-61-2; Blaze Ruffin, 2-59-1; Wilson, 3-27; Regala, 1-14; Jaden Naemi, 1-13; Jones, 1-0.

2026 DISTRICT 2-5A STANDINGS
Team District Season

W L Pts. Def. W L Pts. Def.
Am. Palo Duro 3 0 140 16 6 1 258 75
Wylie 2 0 83 33 4 2 190 112
Ab. Cooper 2 1 83 69 4 3 175 146
WF Legacy 1 1 46 64 4 2 210 158
WF Memorial 1 2 100 83 3 4 304 268
Lub-Cooper 0 2 20 65 0 6 83 236
Lub. Coronado 0 3 27 170 1 6 131 287

LAST WEEK'S GAMES
Palo Duro 55, Coronado 0
Wylie 27, Memorial 13
Abilene Cooper 27, Lubbock-Cooper 6
Legacy open

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Wylie at Palo Duro
Abilene Cooper at Legacy
Coronado at Lubbock Cooper
Memorial open