Bearkats drop season finale to Klein Oak
Loss drops Kats to 4-6 for the year
The Klein Bearkats "traveled†to Memorial Stadium for the final game of the 2011 varsity season. Captains Ben Weaver, Adam West, DaVante Smith and AJ Johnson represented the Kats for the coin toss on a beautiful night to play football. Oak won the toss and deferred to the 2nd half and Austin Schmidt returned opening kick to the 31 yard for Klein. The Kats began a successful drive with a short loss, but a personal foul penalty against Oak moved the ball to the 44 yard line. David Hamm and Othello Gibson alternated carries and moved the ball into Oak territory at the 38 yard line. The Kats moved the chains again on a 15 yard completion from Alex Smith to Andrew Santacroce who carried the ball to the 23 yard line. The ball moved to the 16 yard line as Klein was called for a holding penalty and Oak was flagged for a personal foul. The Kats offense stalled after a short loss by Hamm led to 2 incomplete pass attempts. The special teams came out for a 35 yard FG attempt, but the kick was wide right and the score remained tied at 0 with 6:53 on the 1st quarter clock.
Starting at the 20 yard line, the Oak offense used 13 plays to move the ball to the Kats 11 yard line. On the drive Austin Schmidt, TJ Weido, Andrew Santacroce, Reg Groux, Sam Odom, Sterling Bennett and Ben Weaver made tackles. With the ball at the 11, the Kats held Oak to no gain and then forced 2 incomplete passes. With 2:10 left in the 1st quarter, Oak converted a 28 yard FG and the score was 3-0.
Following an Andrew Hamm fair catch on the kickoff, the Kats offense punted the ball back to the Panthers after a short gain by Gibson and 2 incomplete passes. Rex Baxter’s punt carried 43 yards before being returned to the 44 yard line where Sam Odom made the tackle. The Panthers struck quickly on their next possession. On 1st down, Weaver made a stop for a loss of 1 yard, but on 2nd down Oak completed a TD pass to make the score 10-0 with 1:03 left in the 1st quarter.
Austin Schmidt returned the ensuing kickoff into Oak territory before being brought down at the 48 yard line. The Bearkats turned the ball over on 1st down when Oak intercepted a pass at the 33 yard line. Ryan Jackson made the stop at the 36 yard line on the play. Looking for another quick score, Oak ran a reverse pass that fell incomplete on 1st down. Odom broke through for a sack on 2nd down and a 3rd down pass sailed high over the receivers head. The Oak punt rolled out of bounds at the 26 yard line on the last play of the 1st quarter.
The Kats offense continued to try to find its pace, having to punt the ball away after a short gain by David Hamm and 2 incompletions. Rex Baxter’s punt carried 43 yards before rolling dead at the 27 yard line. Oaks offense struggled on the next series as well, with a holding penalty and 3 incomplete pass attempts. Santacroce and Odom broke up passes on the possession. The Panthers punt carried 30 yards to the Oak 47 yard line, where the Kats offense took the field. Othello Gibson gained 9 yards on 1st down, and had positive yardage on the next carry before he fumbled the ball. Cameron Family made the stop on the Oak defender, who ran the ball back to the Klein 45 yard line.
Oak used 8 plays to add more points, with a 23 yard TD pass moving the score to 17-0 with 7:34 left in the half. Brooks Villareal, Bobby Baker, Ben Weaver, TJ Weido and DaVante Smith made tackles for the Kats during the drive.
The Kats fair caught the next kickoff at the 35 yard line and kept the ball on the ground behind the offensive line made up of Adam West, Cameron Family, Kyler Nordgren, Sam LaCoste, Chris Burger and Chris Morton. Alex Smith kept the ball on 1st down and gained 12 yards to the 47. David Hamm took the next 4 handoffs and carried the ball 23 yards Oak 30. A personal foul on the last carry moved the ball to the 15 yard line. On 2nd down at the 13 yard line, Ryan Jackson caught a TD pass in the end zone from Alex Smith. Rex Baxter converted the PAT and the score was 17-7 with 5:02 left in the half.
Kyle Pfau kicked off for the Kats and Nick Long made the coverage stop at the 18 yard line. A block in the back penalty moved the ball back to the 9 yard line where the Klein D took the field. Ben Weaver made 2 stops to force a 3 and 6 at the 12 yard line, but Oak completed a pass that covered 60 yards before Austin Schmidt could run down the receiver. With the ball at the Klein 27, Oak needed 7 more plays before pushing it in for on a 2 yard TD run to make the score Oak 24 Klein 7 with :57 seconds left in the half.
Ryan Jackson returned the kickoff out to the 33 yard line for the Kats offense. With time running out, Smith completed a 37 yard pass to Rex Baxter to move the ball to the Oak 32 yard line before the half ended.
The 2nd half started out with the Kats attempting an onside kick. Pfau’s well placed kick took a big hop and the Kats had a shot at it, but following a scrum, Oak recovered. The Oak offense struck quickly with a 56 yard reverse pass for a TD to make the score Oak 30 Klein 7 just 9 seconds into the 2nd half. The 37 yard PAT was no good, following another personal foul on the Panthers.
TJ Weido made his 2nd fair catch of a kickoff at the Kats 37 yard line. The Kats opened their drive with a 3 yard gain by Hamm and a 12 yard completion to Ben Weaver. A personal foul and a procedure penalty backed the Kats to the 31 yard line, but David Hamm broke through the line for a 25 yard gain and a 1st down. Hamm broke through big holes in the line to gain 9, 18, 10 and 4 yards on the next 4 downs, before pushing it over from the 1 yard line to make the score Oak 30 Klein 14 following Rex Baxter’s PAT.
Baxter’s kickoff was returned into Kats territory before Sterling Bennett made the stop at the 49 yard line. The Panthers used 6 plays to move the ball to the Kats 32 yard line. Villareal, Odom, Weaver and Zorn made stops for the Kats, but with a 2nd and 13, Oak completed a TD pass to make the score 37-14 with 6:53 left in the 3rd quarter.
With Oak continuing to use short pooch kicks, Josh Atherton made the fair catch at the 31 yard line. The Kats quickly had to the punt the ball following 2 carries by Gibson that netted a loss of 4 and an incomplete pass. Oak took possession of the ball at the 37 yard line following the punt by Santacroce.
Oak would post their final score of the evening, using 8 plays to set up a 37 yard field goal that made the score Oak 40 Klein 14 with 2:24 left in the 3rd. On the drive Martin Rizzetto and Brooks Villareal each made 2 tackles, while TJ Weido broke up a pass attempt. Ryan Jackson covered the kickoff for the Kats at the 25 yard line. Both teams exchanged punts over the next 4 possessions with Andrew Santacroce making a fair catch with 6:19 left in the game. The Kats offense used almost 4 minutes of the clock to move the ball to the Oak 29 before turning the ball over on downs with 2:30 left in the game. David Hamm carried the ball for 50 yards in the last quarter to lead the Kats offense. As the Kats defense took the field, Sam Odom made a stop on 1st down, before Blake Quisenberry made a big hit for no gain and then combined with Brooks Villareal on a sack to force a punt. To end the season the Kats ran a trick play where Cameron Family gained 13 yards as he ran up the field with the handoff.
The Bearkats completed their season with a 4-6 record and best wishes go out the members of the Senior Class who have represented Klein High very well over their 4 years in the program.
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