For Heights, a Friday Night Loss

Timberwolves Slick in Rainy Opener

Returning to action on the heels of the best season-ending momentum ever at Cedar Park – with two straight wins to close 2005 – the Timberwolf football team picked up right where it left off with a 27-7 blistering of highly-regarded Harker Heights to open the 2006 season at Bible Stadium on a drizzly Friday night. It was the second straight opening day win for the second time in school history (2001-2002), and the fourth opening day win in the last six years.

Junior quarterback Michael Cochran led the way on offense, completing his first four passes, throwing for 84 yards, running for 112 more on eight carries, and scoring on an electrifying 83-yard sprint that was the third longest run from scrimmage in school history.

Senior linebacker Justin Allen, along with Tyler Smith the only remaining veteran from the state-ranked 2004 team, was a difference-maker on defense, with several key stops, at least two monster hits for losses, a fumble recovery, and a fifty-yard return of the opening kickoff.

Junior Safety Brandon Lopez grabbed the first interception of the season, and ran it back 25 yards, stopping a key Heights possession late in the game and bleeding the life out of the Knights.

The Timberwolves scored touchdowns on their first four possessions, seemingly showing little concern that Heights had indeed placed some defensive players on the field. It was just the fifth time in the history of the program to open a game with four straight TDs, the others being Lago Vista (1999, 76-0), McCallum (2000, 47-3), Bastrop (2001, 38-14), and Copperas Cove (2004, 35-7). The CP record for most consecutive touchdown possessions to open a game is five, in that 2000 McCallum game.

Tyler Smith opened with a very respectable performance, with 79 yards and two touchdowns on sixteen carries. Logging 1,079 yards and twelve TDs playing in nine games in ’05, “The T” has placed himself into position for being the best returning running back in the Austin area this fall.

It was a great night for the return teams, as well. The T’wolves racked up 193 return yards on two kickoffs, two punts, and one interception, averaging an eye-popping 38.6 yards per return.

Hunter Dixon led Cedar Park receivers, with two catches for 46 yards. Fullback Taylor Itz had a nice 40-yard run to spark one scoring drive.

After the opening blitzkrieg of touchdowns, Coach Ross characteristically played it close to the vest to avoid mistakes the rest of the way in the wet conditions, thus offensive statistical production was modest for such a dominating performance. This game followed a flow very much like the 24-0 win over McNeil last season, in which the T’wolves also ran up a large early lead and then elected to grind out the clock the rest of the way with a risk-free tactical approach of conservative, lead-protecting football. The strategy worked to perfection, as Harker Heights never sniffed the end zone after a missed 29-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter.

The Cedar Park defense completely stifled the Knights in the second half. The 44 yards of offense Heights produced after intermission was the second-lowest yardage ever allowed by Cedar Park in a single half. That record (minus 27 in the first half against Lago Vista in 1999) will prove hard to beat.

The Knights’ Nick Trice, a highly-regarded 6’3” 200-lb. transfer from Germany with all the tools for becoming a DI collegiate receiver, was almost completely stifled by the Gang Green defense. Trice was nearly a non-factor, with only one catch in each half for a total of just 34 yards.

Cedar Park’s “Hot Knife Through Butter” offense shifted into overdrive for those first four possessions, totaling 228 yards on just fifteen plays, four of them touchdown runs, racking up an amazing 15.2 yards per play. Cochran completed all four of his passing attempts in this stretch, for 61 yards. Of course, such productivity is always made possible by the O-line, and linesmen Jake Morrow, Dustin Long, Derek Reim, Matt Gould, and Brad Drango pushed the Knights all over the field.

The game was played in a steady drizzle, which perhaps helped cement the decision to play safe offense after establishing the big early lead. No points were scored in the second half by either team.

The Knights kicked off to open the game, and the short kick fell into upback Allen’s hands at the 20. After heading straight upfield for about fifteen yards, Allen disappeared into a dense knot of players. Suddenly, he popped out of the back, headed for the right sideline, and sprinted down the stripe for the end zone, barely caught by the last man at the Heights 30 as the 4000 Timberwolf fans shook their umbrellas and screamed in mid-season form. Three plays later, The T found the end zone on a two-yard push and with the extra point by Jordan Greer, Cedar Park led 7-0 just 1:18 into the season.

The Knights followed with a very productive first possession of their own, moving 50 yards in seven plays to face a third and 15 at the Timberwolf 23. Knights QB Eain Runyon found wideout Jermaine Jamison in the right flat, and Cedar Park appeared to have the play well-defensed. But Jamison broke through a tackle, evaded five other players, then scampered the rest of the way dodging would-be tacklers for a nice touchdown. Mark Barreras’ extra point tied the game at seven with 7:43 remaining in the first quarter.

Out came the T’wolf offense again, this time jump-started by a thirty-yard kickoff return by Smith. It took them just six plays and less than three minutes to cover 55 yards, the key play Cochran’s 23-yard completion to Dedrick McKnight. McKnight then got the honors of running over the touchdown from the three, and with Greer’s conversion took the lead for good at 14-7, still with 4:53 left in the first.

After gaining one first down and 22 yards on the ensuing possession, the Knights were forced to punt at the Cedar Park 49, as the Gang Green defense registered the game’s first break of serve. McKnight continued a fine performance in his varsity debut with a 29-yard return of that punt to set the Timberwolves up at their own 41.

Just four plays later, the First Mechanized Timberwolf Army rumbled into the end zone again, this time on a one-yard dive by Smith less than a minute into the second quarter. A Heights defender got a hand on the ensuing extra point attempt and deflected it, ending a team streak for Cedar Park of 65 consecutive extra points, dating back to the third game of the 2004 campaign, and covering parts of 23 games and three seasons. Cedar Park led 20-7.

After returning a line-drive kickoff for 25 yards, Heights had their best starting field position of the game thus far at their own 37. A 37-yard pass completion highlighted a six play drive, but it all went for naught as they were stopped on downs by the Gang Green at the Cedar Park 16 just six plays later.

Forty seconds later in the soggy weather, there was a lightning strike.

After a short 1-yard run into the line by McKnight came the game’s most spectacular play, and the fatal lance through the Knights’ armor. Cochran kept on an option play off left tackle, skirted past the reach of a couple of defenders near the line, broke towards the left sideline, and found himself in the clear. Chased by two speedy Heights defensive backs, it was a step-for-step race for seventy yards up the line, in the fashion of the best stretch run finishes of the Kentucky Derby. Cochran finally pulled away in the last few strides, 83 yards downfield for a huge touchdown that drove the thousands of Cedar Park fans to a screaming frenzy. Greer started the next extra point streak and the game was settled at 27-7, even though not yet halfway through the second quarter.

Harker Heights had their own Battle of the Bulge – their final effective offensive lunge – on the next possession, going sixty yards in thirteen plays. But Barreras pushed a 29-yard field goal attempt wide left and Heights never moved much again.

On the other hand, Cedar Park mounted one more effective first half drive, going 60 yards in seven quick plays, showing some fine clock management along the way. Cochran’s fourth down completion to Smith was probably good enough for the first down at the Knights’ twenty, but Smith slipped on the wet turf and went down as he caught the ball inches short of the marker. Heights took a knee to drip away the final seconds of the half and this game was essentially over.

In the second half, with the contest effectively out of reach, Cedar Park throttled the offense back to idle as the drizzle continued. There were only 103 yards of combined total offense after halftime, and the successive possessions by both teams ended thusly; punt, downs, fumble, punt, fumbled punt, downs, interception, fumble, punt, time expired.

Starting from their own 19, the Knights’ final possession was blown up by Allen, who slammed into QB Runyon at a dead sprint from fifteen yards away, crushing him for a huge sack in the hardest hit of the night and forcing Heights to spend their last offensive play on a punt.

Cedar Park’s final possession was another piece of nice clock management, this time at the other end of the tactical repertoire, as they burned away most of the fourth quarter while moving only 31 yards in nine plays, ending the game steadily driving at the Heights 21.

The only possible adverse issue in this game from the T’wolves’ perspective was the productiveness of Height’s number 86, a player their roster did not list. 86 caught seven passes for 124 yards, the third most ever by a single receiver against Cedar Park. 86 also logged 62 yards on three kickoff returns, giving him 186 of the Knights’ 330 all-purpose yards. Runyon had a reasonably productive evening throwing the ball, although the Gang Green kept him out of the end zone from the middle of the first quarter on. Runyon went 17 for 24 with one pick, one TD, and 224 yards.

Ross Rogers’ Knights team is very well regarded, picked in most publications for a second-place finish in tough district 13-5A, second only to the state’s current fourth-ranked team, A&M Consolidated. Consider that the Knights are a consensus pick to finish ahead of the Bryan Vikings, a team that was throttling Pflugerville 27-14 at the same time Cedar Park was demolishing Heights. Interesting? You bet. Don’t make any other Friday night plans this fall.

Cedar Park has played Harker Heights more times than any other opponent. Their record against the Knights now stand at 4 games to 3, having won the last two in a row by a combined score of 62-7.

Next up is a second straight home game, against the Hays Rebels, as Friday Night Football is sidetracked to Thursday next week. See you at the stadium!

Statistics

	Cedar Park	Heights
First Downs	15	13
Rushes	36	24
Rush Yards	265	24
Yards/Rush	7.36	1.00
Pass Att.	11	24
Pass Comp.	7	17
Pass Int.	0	1
Pass Pct. Comp.	64%	71%
Pass Yards	84	223
Avg Yds/Att.	7.64	9.29
Total Yards	349	247
Penalties	3	2
Pen Yards	12	15
Fumbles	2	2
Fumbles Lost	1	2
Punts	1	3
Return Yards	193	83

Scoring by Quarters

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Cedar Park	14	13	0	0	27
Heights	7	0	0	0	7

Scoring Summary

Q	T	CP	E	How
1	10:42	7		Tyler Smith 2 run (Greer kick)
1	7:43		7	Runyon 23 pass to Jamison (Barreras kick)
1	4:53	14		Dedrick McKnight 3 run (Greer kick)
2	11:02	20		Tyler Smith 1 run (kick blocked)
2	7:41	27		Michael Cochran 83 run (Greer kick)