On Friday, I was at Heroes stadium as the Johnson Jaguars hosted the Round Rock Cedar Ridge Raiders.
The two studs on Johnson I was looking forward to seeing were the quarterback, Josh Theissen and the running back, Mike Morgan – both are seniors. As a sophomore in 2013, Theissen was unbelievable as he had 50 receptions for 967 yards and 7 touchdowns. Last year, as a junior, he was the quarterback, with 49 for 100 passing for 702 yards with 3 touchdowns and 9 interceptions; and 109 carries for 462 yards with 6 touchdowns. Last year, Mike Morgan had 150 carries for 744 yards with 3 touchdowns. Last week, he had 210 yards with 2 touchdowns.
I didn’t know anything about Cedar Ridge – I wasn’t even close on their mascot. I thought they were the Red Wolves! They are actually the Raiders. At least I got the first letter correct. Mark Kusenberger, a Texas Sports Radio Network broadcaster, sent me an email with the correct mascot name and some really good information from Danny Davis, from the Austin American-Statesman. Cedar Ridge has a junior quarterback, Garrett Sharp, who had 1 passing touchdown and 3 rushing touchdowns last week against New Braunfels Canyon. Their senior defensive back Ian Peterson is the school’s first FBS recruit to the Kansas Jayhawks. I haven’t yet mastered keeping defensive stats so no numbers on him.
One of the things I love about being a writer is that I get to run around on the field before the game and snap a bunch of pictures. The energy from the players is absolutely mesmerizing and it is awesome to see the players up close and personal.
I am used to being shut up in the broadcast press box and only hearing the broadcasters and am not used to all the commotion in the main press box with the scouts and other writers talking, and the phone ringing all night long. I am very friendly and outgoing and happy to talk but please, if you see me typing away, give me a minute to complete my thoughts and save my work.
Last week at the Reagan and O’Connor game, I did partial stats for the main players on a piece of paper. Yesterday, I scrapped the paper and kept tally of 4 players on a spreadsheet – I was paper free, which worked very well for me and the cool thing was, I didn’t have to add anything up! Before the next game, I want to fine tune the spreadsheet.
On Friday night, Cedar Ridge led Johnson 21 to 3 at halftime and I was really disappointed by the performance of the Johnson running back, Mike Morgan and the Johnson quarterback, Josh Theissen. They combined for just 80 yards.
Cedar Ridge’s quarterback, Garrett Sharp, was really good. He was 15 of 23 passing for 123 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. He also had 6 carries for 29 yards.
Cedar Ridge extended the lead to 28 to 3 late in the 3rd quarter and I thought the game would be over. I was wrong, as Johnson switched Josh Theissen to wide receiver and threw in sophomore Royal Davis at quarterback. This was probably Royal’s first time playing a varsity football game and on his first drive as a quarterback, he had 3 carries for 62 yards and a touchdown! Johnson should have used him earlier in the game; they now trailed 28 to 9.
In the 4th quarter, Royal Davis threw a 30-yard touchdown pass and they trailed Cedar Ridge by a score of 28 to 16. Unfortunately, that was the end of the Johnson Jaguar comeback as Royal Davis came up short at the poker table.
The final score was Round Rock Cedar Ridge 28 and SA Johnson 16.
Mike Morgan, the Johnson running back, had 9 carries for 21 yards. Josh Theissen, the Johnson quarterback, had 8 carries for 24 yards and was 6 of 16 passing for 67 yards. Royal Davis had 7 carries for 106 yards with 1 touchdown and was 2 of 4 passing for 46 yards with 1 touchdown. In less than a quarter and a half, Royal out-gained Mike and Josh 152 yards to 112 yards. I smell a quarterback controversy at Johnson. Thank goodness I am not a coach who has to make that decision – who knows, maybe putting Josh back at wide receiver and Royal at quarterback will be the best thing for Johnson this year. Head coach Ron Rittimann is smart enough to figure out a way to get those 3 players plenty of touches throughout the game.
The Cedar Ridge junior quarterback Garrett Sharp was extremely impressive. He was 24 of 28 passing for 226 yards with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. He also had 12 carries for 58 yards. That is 284 total yards with 4 touchdowns – wow!
Next Thursday, I will be at Farris stadium as the O’Connor Panthers host the Steele Knights. I am excited to see the Steele Knights again. The last time I saw them was a tough loss to the Katy Tigers in the state semi-finals last year. The Steele Knights’ junior quarterback, Xavier Martin, the senior running back, Bryson Denley, and the senior wide receiver, Antoine Cox-Wesley have all verbally committed to Texas Tech University. Mark Jackson, the senior defensive tackle, verbally committed to Texas A&M. Travell Lumpkin (who has my wife’s favorite name in 2015 HS football), the junior running back who had 630 rushing yards last season and a junior defensive back Joshua Crosslen hasn’t made any announcement yet. I saw O’Connor in Week 1 and they struggled to hang with the Reagan Rattlers and in Week 2, O’Connor defeated Alamo Heights 60 to 49.
On Friday, I will be at Farris stadium again as the Brennan Bears host the Manor Mustangs. Brennan lost to Smithson Valley in Week 2, but I am totally expecting them to bounce back next week fairly easily. The Bears’ leading rusher is sophomore, Jahmyl Jeter, who has 26 carries for 302 yards with 4 touchdowns.
Below are a few teaser photos:
