“In the second half, we couldn’t move the ball. We’d go three-and-out and give them a short field,” first-year Killeen Ellison coach Buddy McBryde said Friday night after his Eagles’ 45-0 loss to Copperas Cove in a District 12-5A opener at Bulldawg Stadium.
“You just can’t do things like that against a team like Copperas Cove,” continued McBryde, who saw his team turn the ball over five times and get held to just 70 total yards in the second half. Thirty-three of those yards came in the final minute on a run by Daniel Cobb.
Veteran coach Jack Welch, who has led his Bulldawgs to a 4-0 start, was pleased with a defensive effort that kept a speedy, athletic Ellison team out of the end zone.
“We’ve come together as a team and played 48 minutes of football tonight,” Welch said. “They are a much better team than the score indicated. Our defensive effort solidified and we started getting three-and-outs.
“Offensively, we - I hate to say started slow - made some adjustments and our line got things going.”
For the game, Ellison (2-2) - which has turned the ball over 14 times in its last two games - managed 171 yards. All but 24 of those came on 45 running plays as a defense led by linebacker Tanner Brock and defensive back Chris Miller repeatedly victimized the Eagles. Fourty-one of Ellison’s 60 offensive snaps resulted in gains of 3 yards or less.
“We had two weeks to get ready for this game and our coaches had us well prepared,” Brock said. “We penetrated and destroyed their offense with our inside guys setting things up.”
Of course, the Cove offense couldn’t be overlooked. The Bulldawgs finished with 349 yards - 213 on 43 carries and 136 through the air. Brandin Byrd rushed 19 times for 110 yards and quarterback Cody Vaughn completed seven of 13 passes for 136 yards.
Copperas Cove has outscored its four opponents 184-34.
Cove jumped to a 17-0 lead in the first half as a fumble on the opening kickoff set up a 28-yard field goal by Michael Roell with just 52 seconds having exited the clock. On the fumble, William Wright separated Jaron Turner from the ball and Miller recovered.
Roell missed a 49-yard field goal on Cove’s next possession when the ball hit high off the left upright.
The Bulldawgs scored touchdowns on their next two possessions - a 61-yard completion to Josh Boyce on a middle screen and a 1-yard run by Byrd. Both touchdowns were the first of two for Boyce and Byrd.
Cove scored 21 points in the third period. The Dawgs moved 65 yards in seven plays with the opening kickoff of the second half. Vaughn and Boyce combined on a 24-yard touchdown pass that saw Boyce run out of a tackle at the 12.
A short punt and a pass interception by Miller set up short drives for the other two scores - a 7-yard run by Byrd and a 4-yard burst by Wright.
Another short punt set up Cove’s final score - a 16-yard sweep by Brelan Chancellor - and Roell added his sixth extra point to complete the scoring with 8:04 to play.
Ellison threatened in the last minute as Cobb’s burst moved the ball to the Cove 9. With a first-and-goal, time ran out on the Eagles when backup quarterback Tarron Burch was sacked for a 7-yard loss, threw an incomplete pass and concluded the game with a 3-yard loss on a keeper.
Poor punting also hurt the Eagles. Six kicks resulted in just a 26.5 average.
