The Bears’ defense kept them in the game.
San Marcos Academy trailed Hallettsville Sacred Heart 12-0 late in the second quarter Friday night and had just failed to capitalize inside the Indians’ red zone, committing a turnover on downs. Sacred Heart gained nine yards on the first two plays of its drive, then handed the ball off on 3rd and 1.
The Bears forced a fumble, then recovered it at the 12-yard line to set up another scoring chance. Senior quarterback Bryce Patterson targeted junior Gino Dipollino on the next play, who crossed the Ingram Stadium goal line to get the hosts on the board.
The defense went on to force another three turnovers in the second half as SMA came from behind to steal the 27-21 win.
“The defense has played physical all year. And when you create turnovers, that always helps,” head coach Les Davis said. “But the main thing is it's just a good group of kids that they don't really care who gets the credit. They're all out there playing hard, together.”
The team went into halftime riding the momentum of their first touchdown. But the offense knew it had to produce more.
“In the first half, it was pretty upsetting because we got in the red zone quite a few times and we didn't end up pulling through,” Patterson said. “In the locker room, we all regrouped. And the offensive line got some stuff together, the receivers got together and we talked. Defense, same thing. Drew up some new plays and just worked on our craft.”
The Indians (2-3) punted on their first drive of the second half and the Bears got the ball back on their own 39. Patterson completed passes to senior Zach Whitaker and sophomore Hudson Lee for a combined 55 yards to move within Sacred Heart’s 10. Patterson took the next two carries and found the end zone on his second attempt to give the hosts their first lead of the game, 14-12.
Senior Animaan Singh picked off a pass two plays into the visitors’ next drive, setting SMA back up in its opponent’s territory at the 32-yard line. Patterson rushed two more times for another score to extend the lead to 21-12.
“Bryce is just — one, he's a heck of an athlete, but he's also a smart kid,” Davis said. “And if he goes out and makes mistake, he's not gonna make the same mistake again later. He's going to learn from it and progress. But also, his leadership abilities are incredible. And so that's a big thing.”
The Bears almost allowed a comeback, though. The Indians scored nine points in the fourth quarter to tie the game back up at 21-21. The hosts got the ball back on their own 33 with 1:10 left in the game. Junior Robby Newman busted loose on third down for a 42-yard gain and a horse-collar penalty on Sacred Heart moved the ball to the 9-yard line.
Patterson cashed in two plays later on an 8-yard run for his fourth touchdown of the night. Senior Daven Meredith tallied one more interception on the final play of the game to seal the 27-21 win.
“Man, that was scary,” Patterson said. “It was a close game, we knew we needed to score. We didn't want to go into overtime, we wanted to finish it out. So it was really exciting. And my heart was pounding pretty fast.”
The victory moves SMA’s record up to 5-1 as the team heads into TAPPS Division III District 3 play next week. The Bears will head to Waco next Friday to take on Reicher Catholic (2-4) at 7:30 p.m. Davis hopes to keep building off another win.
“Hopefully, it sets the tone,” Davis said. “Winning is never a bad thing. So we hope we've set the tone that we can compete with anybody that we're going to play in the district. That's what I told them, I said ‘The real season starts Monday. So enjoy this one now and come back Monday ready to go to work.’”
