3A Team of the Week: Sabine Cardinals

Sabine was in for quite the challenge last Friday. The Cardinals were 22-point underdogs, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, as they hit the road to face 3-0 Redwater.

With four minutes to go, the game was playing out just as it had been expected to on paper. Sabine found itself in a 28-14 hole but with the ball.

Cardinal running back Princeton Jones got the comeback rolling with a one-yard rushing touchdown to cut Redwater’s lead to 28-21. Then after recovering an onside kick, the Cardinals marched down the field again. This time it was Angel Garcia who punched it in to make it 28-27 with just over a minute to go.

That left Sabine head coach Tim Russell with a decision to make.

“Sometimes in games like that you may already know what you are going to do, but I wasn’t sure at that time until our offense came over and I could tell they were excited to go for it,” Russell said.

Russell trusted his players, and it paid off. Garcia punched in the two-point conversion and the defense came up with an interception on the ensuing drive to help secure the improbable 29-28 victory.

Jones led the Cardinals with 112 rushing yards, while Terry Vanden had seven catches for 57 yards and a score. Defensively, Syler Pierce, Jerry Templeton and Caysen Burdeshaw all had interceptions.

With the win, Sabine is now 2-2 on the season. The Cardinals will round out non-district play with a visit from New Diana this Friday.

Previous 3A Teams of the Week

Week One: Maypearl

Week Two: Cameron Yoe

Week Three: Shallowater