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Clear Creek downs Galveston Ball
  
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By CHUCK HLAVA
Bay Area Citizen
Clear Creek’s defense kept Galveston Ball’s rushing in check in posting a 17-7 District 24-5A win Saturday night in Veterans Memorial Stadium.
But the story was Ball’s return on the football competitive playing field after Hurricane Ike’s devastation on the island. It has been a month since the Tornadoes played a game.
Both sides of the stadium gave the Tors a standing ovation when they came onto the field. A very good crowd came to witness the resurgence of the Ball high football team. And they weren’t disappointed.
“It’s just amazing and so great to see them,” said one fan on the Creek side of the field.
This was originally scheduled as a home contest for Ball but Creek switched home dates with the Tors and next season the Wildcats will travel to play in Galveston.
For Creek coach Darrell Warden, who has known Ball coach Ron Holmes for 20 years, couldn’t help but be delighted that Holmes and the Tornadoes are back in the game they all love.
“This will be a special memory,” Warden said. “This was just their first game (in a month) and once they get a couple more games in shape they’re going to get tougher and tougher. They were tough and anxious to play already.”
Holmes himself was pleased with his team’s desire and the crowd that was on hand to cheer them.
“We had the support of our fans tonight. They saw these kids play for the Galveston community,” Holmes said.
He added that emotions were high before the game but some worked through it to focus on the game at hand. “They know what their destiny is,” Holmes said.
The Wildcats (1-0 in district and 2-2 overall) never trailed and broke away from a 3-0 halftime lead to 17-0 before Ball scored its touchdown with 3:43 left in the game.
At first it looked like the visitors were going to keep the Cats on their heels when they took the opening kickoff and moved from their 20 to the Creek 4-yard line. But the Wildcats foiled that 17-play drive that took seven minutes when they stopped a fourth down play at the four.
As the teams jockeyed back and forth across the field, it took a 39-yard field goal from kicker Tommy Henshaw early in the second quarter to put the Wildcats up 3-0.
That stood until the third period when Creek quarterback Marcus Mata threw a touchdown strike to DiJohn Guilbeaux. Henshaw’s kick made it 10-0 with 4:49 left in the third.
Creek put the game away at 5:55 of the fourth period when, on their first play after taking over on their own 31, Mata connected with Brian Boyd on a 59-yard touchdown pass forge ahead, 17-0.
The Wildcats came close to posting a shutout when they forced Ball to punt following the last Creek touchdown. But the Cats were flagged for a face mask, giving the Tors new life. Ball took advantage. Quarterback Richard Sincere drove them from midfield to the Creek seven on a 43-yard completion. On the next play the Tors fumbled the ball into the end zone but wide receiver Dominick Valdez fell on it for the Ball touchdown with 3:43 left in the game. The Wildcats promptly drove to the Tor 1-yard line but fumbled the ball and Ball recovered with less than a minute to play.
The flow of the game was disturbed by the 21 penalties called in the game with the Tors picking up 11 of them. Both teams showed ability to pass and run but Creek’s defense stood out in halting the Tor run game.
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