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Quick start powers Mavs past Eagles
By ROBERT AVERY
And they say statistics don’t lie.
Whoever said that should have attended the Memorial-Pasadena district football game Friday night or at least the opening two quarters.
Who would have guessed that Pasadena was 25 points in the hole at halftime while the Eagles were owners of twice as many first downs as well as having run 41 offensive plays to Memorial’s 15.
Yes, statistics can on occasion be strange. But there was nothing strange about the strong statistics Bo Snelson again displayed. Snelson burned Pasadena’s defense for his seventh, eighth and ninth touchdowns of the year, including romps of 82 and 40 yards as the Mavericks belted the Eagles 49-17 in a District 22-5A contest at Newcomb Field.
A 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Tyler Mathis to start the contest and Chase Adamek scooping up a blocked punt and scoring less than two minutes later helped Memorial set a school record for most points in a district contest.
Although Memorial had its third touchdown called back in two weeks, the Mavericks looked crisper, enabling the team to improve to 1-1 in district, climbing into a four-way tie for third place.
Taylor Hart may have had his best defensive game when the senior blocked the punt that led to Adamek’s first-ever varsity touchdown and later intercepted a pass that set up the team’s final score. Adamek, on top of his scoop-and-score, recovered a fumble, stopping a Pasadena threat early in the second quarter.
“Special teams played very, very big for us,” Memorial head coach John Snelson said. “We needed to get off to a big start after a very tough loss last week.”
Pasadena owned a 364-335 advantage in total yardage, based primarily on the Eagles dominating in the plays from scrimmage department. Pasadena ran 72 plays to Memorial’s 31. Still, Memorial enjoyed a 320-210 edge for the respective ground games.
“Their coaches do a great job with their kids. And their kids play us so hard. Last year, we only had 14 plays in the first half and this year we had 15. They do a great job of keeping the ball away from you,” said Snelson, whose club ran those 15 first-half plays against Pasadena’s 41.
With Pasadena hogging the ball and Mavs quarterback Tate Gresham not suited up because of a weight room injury last Monday, it just made what took place in the game’s opening 1:54 all the more critical.
Mathis put a charge in the crowd when he took the opening kickoff at his own six, collected a few blocks, weaved through traffic and found nothing but daylight around midfield. And just like that, it was 6-0 with 14 seconds elapsed from the scoreboard clock.
“It was my first varsity touchdown but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates blocking for me,” Mathis said. “Just the whole team did their part on that.”
“Tyler was the benefactor of some tremendous blocking. I don’t think he got touched until about the 40 and then he broke a tackle and was able to get into the end zone,” Snelson said.
After a three-and-out series by Pasadena, Hart blocked the punt attempt and Adamek scored from about 30 yards out, giving Memorial a 14-0 lead with 10:06 to play in the first. Adamek shredded a tackle attempt by Luis Montoya, before scoring.
“Whenever he was a wide receiver for us last year, we always got on him because he never broke a tackle. Now he’s on defense and he breaks a tackle and he scores his first high school touchdown,” Snelson said. “We’re excited about that.”
That 14-point cushion was needed because Pasadena owned the clock from that point on. It began with a Montoya-led 68-yard scoring drive that consumed eight plays. Attacking the left side of Memorial’s defensive line almost exclusively, Montoya accounted for all 68 yards.
But if it was momentum Pasadena was looking to build on, it was promptly lost when Bo Snelson, playing quarterback in the shotgun formation, recorded his 80-yarder, racing down the left sidelines. The big play began ominously when Snelson had to pick the ball up off the turf, thanks to a bad snap.
After a Pasadena field goal with 2:29 to play in the first, the team took advantage of a short punt and threatened to cut the deficit to four points early in the second. The Eagles were perched on the 17 of Memorial with a first down, but three plays later fumbled the ball into Adamek’s arms.
That was the backbreaker as far as Pasadena was concerned. A 14-point swing took place as the Mavs drove 80 yards in just four plays. Chance Imhoff may not have been touched en route to finishing the drive with a 42-yard scamper. Memorial came right back on its next possession and marched 80 yards again, this time in six plays. On just the team’s 15th play of the half, Snelson scored on his 40-yarder with 2:29 left and a 35-10 lead.
Snelson, 22-5A’s leading rusher, then scored on third-quarter runs of one and 18 yards, finishing with a game-high 226 yards on 17 carries. At the break, the senior had already tallied 182 yards on ten carries.
Montoya led Pasadena’s time-eating ground game with 127 yards on 25 carries. Montoya was headed for a second TD when he fumbled just shy of the end zone and Ernesto Reyes recovered in the end zone, creating the final score with 8:42 to play in the game.
Whoever said that should have attended the Memorial-Pasadena district football game Friday night or at least the opening two quarters.
Who would have guessed that Pasadena was 25 points in the hole at halftime while the Eagles were owners of twice as many first downs as well as having run 41 offensive plays to Memorial’s 15.
Yes, statistics can on occasion be strange. But there was nothing strange about the strong statistics Bo Snelson again displayed. Snelson burned Pasadena’s defense for his seventh, eighth and ninth touchdowns of the year, including romps of 82 and 40 yards as the Mavericks belted the Eagles 49-17 in a District 22-5A contest at Newcomb Field.
A 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Tyler Mathis to start the contest and Chase Adamek scooping up a blocked punt and scoring less than two minutes later helped Memorial set a school record for most points in a district contest.
Although Memorial had its third touchdown called back in two weeks, the Mavericks looked crisper, enabling the team to improve to 1-1 in district, climbing into a four-way tie for third place.
Taylor Hart may have had his best defensive game when the senior blocked the punt that led to Adamek’s first-ever varsity touchdown and later intercepted a pass that set up the team’s final score. Adamek, on top of his scoop-and-score, recovered a fumble, stopping a Pasadena threat early in the second quarter.
“Special teams played very, very big for us,” Memorial head coach John Snelson said. “We needed to get off to a big start after a very tough loss last week.”
Pasadena owned a 364-335 advantage in total yardage, based primarily on the Eagles dominating in the plays from scrimmage department. Pasadena ran 72 plays to Memorial’s 31. Still, Memorial enjoyed a 320-210 edge for the respective ground games.
“Their coaches do a great job with their kids. And their kids play us so hard. Last year, we only had 14 plays in the first half and this year we had 15. They do a great job of keeping the ball away from you,” said Snelson, whose club ran those 15 first-half plays against Pasadena’s 41.
With Pasadena hogging the ball and Mavs quarterback Tate Gresham not suited up because of a weight room injury last Monday, it just made what took place in the game’s opening 1:54 all the more critical.
Mathis put a charge in the crowd when he took the opening kickoff at his own six, collected a few blocks, weaved through traffic and found nothing but daylight around midfield. And just like that, it was 6-0 with 14 seconds elapsed from the scoreboard clock.
“It was my first varsity touchdown but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates blocking for me,” Mathis said. “Just the whole team did their part on that.”
“Tyler was the benefactor of some tremendous blocking. I don’t think he got touched until about the 40 and then he broke a tackle and was able to get into the end zone,” Snelson said.
After a three-and-out series by Pasadena, Hart blocked the punt attempt and Adamek scored from about 30 yards out, giving Memorial a 14-0 lead with 10:06 to play in the first. Adamek shredded a tackle attempt by Luis Montoya, before scoring.
“Whenever he was a wide receiver for us last year, we always got on him because he never broke a tackle. Now he’s on defense and he breaks a tackle and he scores his first high school touchdown,” Snelson said. “We’re excited about that.”
That 14-point cushion was needed because Pasadena owned the clock from that point on. It began with a Montoya-led 68-yard scoring drive that consumed eight plays. Attacking the left side of Memorial’s defensive line almost exclusively, Montoya accounted for all 68 yards.
But if it was momentum Pasadena was looking to build on, it was promptly lost when Bo Snelson, playing quarterback in the shotgun formation, recorded his 80-yarder, racing down the left sidelines. The big play began ominously when Snelson had to pick the ball up off the turf, thanks to a bad snap.
After a Pasadena field goal with 2:29 to play in the first, the team took advantage of a short punt and threatened to cut the deficit to four points early in the second. The Eagles were perched on the 17 of Memorial with a first down, but three plays later fumbled the ball into Adamek’s arms.
That was the backbreaker as far as Pasadena was concerned. A 14-point swing took place as the Mavs drove 80 yards in just four plays. Chance Imhoff may not have been touched en route to finishing the drive with a 42-yard scamper. Memorial came right back on its next possession and marched 80 yards again, this time in six plays. On just the team’s 15th play of the half, Snelson scored on his 40-yarder with 2:29 left and a 35-10 lead.
Snelson, 22-5A’s leading rusher, then scored on third-quarter runs of one and 18 yards, finishing with a game-high 226 yards on 17 carries. At the break, the senior had already tallied 182 yards on ten carries.
Montoya led Pasadena’s time-eating ground game with 127 yards on 25 carries. Montoya was headed for a second TD when he fumbled just shy of the end zone and Ernesto Reyes recovered in the end zone, creating the final score with 8:42 to play in the game.
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