Bobcats breeze to a 72-14 blowout win over Laredo Alexander
By Quinton Martinez

The last two times the Central Bobcats played at San Angelo Stadium, it took a fourth-quarter rally for the home team to pull out a win.
Friday night on homecoming, the Bobcats took care of business much sooner than the final frame, earning a convincing 72-14 win over Laredo Alexander.
The victory kept Central perfect on the year and gave the Bobcats their first 5-0 non-district start to a season since 1956. [Shady12 note: Not sure why he's playing this up, how many times does a team play that many non-district games in a season? Went undefeated in 2013 non-district]
“Our defense played extremely well and our offense played well,” Central head coach Brent Davis said. “When we do that, we are going to put points up.
“Our defense is playing well and it has been. Our offense clicked tonight. We needed to get Daven (Manning) some reps tonight and we did. It is good to be 5-0 — that hasn’t happened around here in a long time.”
The Bulldogs, featuring nine returning starters on defense from 2014, had not allowed more than 25 points in any game all season coming into the game, but gave up more than double that by the half.
Central led Alexander 51-0 at the break, thanks in large part to the play of its own defense.
Senior defensive end Dylan Parsee had two strip sacks in the first half, powering a dominant effort from Central’s defensive front against the Bulldogs.
“We knew their quarterback was young (a sophomore) and we wanted to put some heat on him and make it hard for him to sit back there and throw,” Parsee said. “I was just trying to play my best and go get the quarterback.”
The Bobcats defense held Alexander to three three-and-out in the first quarter, but truly took the game over in the second quarter.
Consistent pressure forced the Bulldogs to line up for their fifth punt of the contest, when the snap sailed high and Alexander could do nothing but fall on the ball in the end zone, and defensive lineman Austin Garcia cleaned up the play to earn the safety and a 24-0 Central lead.
“We are playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Garcia said. “We just go out there and try to do our job; we work hard in practice against the scout team and during the game.
“On the bad snap I saw the ball, but he covered it up, so I jumped on top of him.”
Parsee ended the next two Bulldogs’ drives with a sack and forced fumble — the first allowing Cedrick Smith to scoop and score from five yards out — and the second setting the table for an 87-yard drive that was the dagger in the second quarter.
After Garcia pounced on the free ball jarred loose by Parsee, Brennen Wooten led the Bobcats offense on a 10-play drive that ended with his second rushing TD of the night, from five yards out.
Wooten hit Manny Villanueva on the next drive for a 27-yard TD to cap the first half.
The senior quarterback finished his night 22 of 30 for 278 with four TDs passing and another two on the ground.
While the defense was dominant, keeping Alexander (25 carries, three yards) in negative rushing yardage until the final two plays of the game, the offense again showed off a handful of playmakers.
Twelve Bobcats caught a pass, seven players scored a touchdown, and six players had at least one carry, including Manning, who returned after missing two weeks due to injury.
Manning led the team with 78 yards on nine carries, but four other backs had at least 29 yards on the ground — including Khalil Antoine (5-29, 2 TDs).
After two weeks in the backfield, Mike Brown returned to slot receiver Friday and burned the Alexander defense with touchdowns on both of his catches — from 18 and 40 yards out.
“That is our philosophy to spread the ball around, spread the field and use it,” Davis said. “When you can throw it to that many guys and have success — along with both of our backs — it makes it a tough deal to defend.”
Though Alexander sophomore quarterback Ezekiel Coss struggled early, Davis felt like he improved as the game went along, and his stats bear that out.
Coss finished 17 of 36 with 220 yards and two touchdowns, but had two lost fumbles. Receiver Eric Ovalle was the biggest weapon offensively for the Bulldogs with five catches for 84 yards and a score.
After a nondistrict slate that featured four long road trips, Central will get a breather after Friday, with an open date before opening District 3-6A play Oct. 9 with a huge contest at Shotwell Stadium against Abilene High.
“We know it is going to be a tough district — we’ve been preaching it all week,” Garcia said. “We have a bye week coming up so we can rest up and game plan. Abilene is a tough team. We know we had to work hard for it last year, and we are going to have to again.
“Hopefully we can get the three-peat.”
Central 72
Alexander 14
Alexander 0 0 7 7 — 14
Central 22 29 14 7 — 72
FIRST QUARTER
Central — Aaron Wooten 3 pass from Brennen Wooten (Mike Brown run), 9:00 remaining
Central — Khalil Antoine 11 run (Marc Cabrera kick), 6:04
Central — Mike Brown 18 pass from B. Wooten (Cabrera kick), 0:05
SECOND QUARTER
Central — Safety (Austin Garcia), 11:08
Central — B. Wooten 23 run (Cabrera kick), 10:47
Central — Cedrick Smith 5 fumble return (Cabrera kick), 9:28 Central — B. Wooten 5 run (kick failed), 2:20
Central — Manny Villanueva 27 pass from B. Wooten (Cabrera kick), 0:48
THIRD QUARTER
Central — Adam West 12 pass from B. Wooten (Cabrera kick), 10:08
Central — Brown 40 pass from Cal Vincent (Collin McDonald kick), 6:40
Alexander — Eric Ovalle 9 pass from Ezekiel Coss (Juan Vidales kick), 0:29
FOURTH QUARTER
Central — Antoine 9 run (McDonald kick), 9:00
Alexander — Peter Brewster 11 pass from Coss (Vidales kick), 6:48
Alexander Central
First downs 12 25
Rushing Yards 25-3 31-218
Passing Yards 220 339
Comp-Att-Int 17-36-0 28-37-0
Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-0
Punts-avg. 6-28 2-28.5
Penalties-yards 5-48 11-68
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Alexander — Jonathan LaCroix 11-23, Alexander Gomez 5-16, Dante’ Swain 1-0, Ezekiel Coss 7-(-16), TEAM 1-(-20). Central — Daven Manning 9-78, Henry Teeter 4-36, Brennen Wooten 6-35, Cal Vincent 2-33, Khalil Antoine 5-29, Manny Villanueva 2-11, TEAM 3-(-4).
PASSING: Alexander — Coss 17-36-0 for 220. Central — B. Wooten 22-30-0 for 278; Vincent 4-5-0 for 50; Teeter 2-2-0 for 11.
RECEIVING: Alexander — Eric Ovalle 5-84, Swain 4-54, Mark Gonzales 3-47, Peter Brewster 3-21, Sam Ramos 1-9, LaCroix 1-5. Central — Adam West 3-76, Mike Brown 2-58; Aaron Wooten 3-44, Villanueva 3-34; Vincent 2-27, Manning 4-25, Antoine 3-22, Grindstaff 2-13, Aych 3-13, Teeter 1-11, Donovan Moore 1-9, Luis Pena 1-7.
RECORDS: Central 5-0, Alexander 2-3
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