The CenTex Barracudas defense made sure of that with six sacks and five interceptions en route to a 52-23 Intense Football League win over the San Angelo Stampede Express in their home opener at Bell County Expo Center on Saturday night.
“We are happy with a win,” CenTex coach Chris Duliban said. “Anytime you can be 2-0 you have to be happy.”
Prior to the game, Duliban had referred to the 0-4 Stampede Express as a “caged dog that’s very hungry and will throw everything they have at us.”
The defense made sure early that the caged dog never got loose, intercepting three Hunter Sims passes and making three sacks while allowing the Stampede Express to only gain 21 yards in the first quarter.
“All they do is pass and we took care of that,” said linebacker J.R. Turner, who had two of the sacks and one interception in the quarter. “Their line wasn’t moving their feet, and ours was getting pressure and our defensive backs kept their coverage, so all I had to do was stay back and make the play.”
But even as the defense was doing its job, the offense could build only a 7-0 lead as quarterback Bart Gloyd and his receivers were slightly off with their timing, connecting on only two of eight passes.
“That’s something we need to work on, is opening it up quick, get off to a good start,” Duliban said. “It seems like we get going and have opening-quarter jitters. But San Angelo didn’t put a rush on early and instead tried to bat the ball down. I think that threw us off. We have to work on that.”
But in the second quarter, the Barracudas put the game away with back-to-back touchdowns, starting with a 45-yard strike from Gloyd to Kendrick Wade along the left sideline.
The defense then pushed the Stampede back to inside its 15-yard line and then blocked a 56-yard field goal attempt that gave the Barracudas the ball back on the Stampede 24. It took just two Gloyd-to-Reggie Smith passes for the Barracudas to go up 21-0 with 8:47 left in the half.
The Stampeded Express finally scored on its next drive as Sims scrambled out of pressure by Ing Alea and tossed up a prayer that was reeled in by Chris Murray just inside the goal line.
Olan Coleman gave the Barracudas excellent field position on kick return, and like he did twice the week before at Frisco, Gloyd scrambled into the end zone from 4 yards out.
Although San Angelo cut it to 28-13 before the half, the Barracudas’ defense made sure that things never got out of hand, limiting the Stampede Express to 26 second-half yards, with interceptions by Rolandus Johnson (Mary Hardin-Baylor) and Cameron Yoe graduate Roderick Knight - two veterans who know the importance of the 2-0 record, matching last season’s win total.
“It was real important not just for us, but for the organization and the fans,” Knight said. “Everybody likes to see a winner. This gave us a good confidence boost.”
Additionally, the Barracudas had a little revenge in mind.
“This was real special because they came here and rode our walls like stallions last year after they won,” Knight said. “We still hold that against them. So it was special to beat them.”
And maybe as a token of revenge, the Barracudas, already holding a 45-23 lead, got the ball back with less than a minute left but didn’t try to run out the clock, Quarterback Shawn Bell threw his first league TD with a 24-yard pass to Coleman on first down for the final margin of victory.
The Barracudas will host the defending IFL champion Louisiana Swashbucklers (2-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
