Article by Greg Jaklewicz

Photos Courtesy of WylieSports.com

Dawg Bites

• Stephenville scores on its first seven possessions

• The Yellow Jackets lead 21-0 after the first quarter

• On one TD drive, Stephenville notched first downs on five straight plays

• Wylie quarterback Jadin Karleskint throws for 219 yards and two more touchdowns

A Tough Night in Stephenville

STEPHENVILLE - The Wylie Bulldogs on Friday experienced what the Coronado Mustangs did the week before.

After dismantling the larger school from Lubbock 70-14 before a large homecoming crowd, the Bulldogs were routed 52-13 by unbeaten Class 4A, Division I No. 4 Stephenville in front of happy homecoming fans at new Art Briles Stadium.

The loss ended non-district play for Wylie, which will take a 2-2 record into this week’s 2-5A opener at Wichita Falls Legacy. The Leopards fell to 1-3 after absorbing a 27-0 loss to Canyon Randall.

Stephenville won for the 10th time in the 14-game series. The Yellow Jackets’ victory was the first in four games for the homecoming host in the series.

Wylie coach Clay Martin had nothing but praise for Stephenville, which piled up 449 total yards and did not have to punt until the fourth quarter. The Yellow Jackets scored on their first seven possessions, mirroring Wylie’s offensive dominance—nine-straight scores and 472 total yards—against Coronado the week before.

“All the credit in the world goes to (Stephenville),” Martin said. “We fell behind and when you come into somebody else’s place and they’re a good team, it makes it more difficult.

“I thought we played hard but I thought they did an excellent job and played really good tonight. They showed why they are highly thought-of in the rankings.”

Reversal of Fortunes

It was deja vu all over again in Stephenville.

Whatever Wylie did right against Coronado, and there were many things, the Yellow Jackets did the same in only the second game at their new stadium.

Stephenville whipped downfield 61 yards on six plays to score on its opening drive, then made it 14-0 with a pick-six by Briar Floyd 1:04 later. The Yellow Jackets led 14-0 just over seven minutes into the game; Wylie led Coronado 15-0 midway through the first quarter.

The Yellow Jackets were up 21-0 at the end of the quarter; Wylie was ahead of Coronado 24-0.

The similarities only continued as Stephenville pulled away.

“They put relentless pressure on us, start to finish,” Martin said.

Wylie’s Early Highlights

Down 21-0, the Bulldogs finally got rolling on offense. A 21-yard screen pass from Jadin Karleskint to Julius Laine lit the fuse but it was Karleskint’s highlight reel scramble and 38-yard touchdown pass to Blaze Ruffin on fourth down that put Wylie on the scoreboard early in the second quarter.

Stephenville scored again but Wylie responded with another good drive. A 42-yard pass across the field from Karlesking to wide-open sophomore Jayden Naemi put the ball at the Yellow Jackets’ 10. Faced with another fourth down, Karleskint was sacked by C.J. Spellmeier for a seven-yard loss with 44 seconds left in the half.

Instead of letting Wylie back into the game, Stephenville added points when quarterback Trot Jordan threw 78 yards to Brighton DeVivo. DeVivo was pulled down at the Wylie 14 to save the touchdown, and the Wylie defense forced a 25-yard field goal.

It was 31-7 at halftime.

More of the Same

Wylie hopes of a big rally were crushed when the Yellow Jackets took the second-half kickoff and marched 51 yards in nine plays to make it 38-7. Running back Zyler McClendon went the final yard for his third touchdown. He scored from the 3 and 1 in the first half.

The Bulldogs scored once, with Karleskint going 15 yards to Naemi in the third quarter. A 59-yard pass completion to Ruffin was the key play of that seven–play, 82-yard drive that ended with a TD conversion on third down.

Still, on a night that saw Stephenville's Jordan turn a batted pass by Wylie into a gain when he caught the rebound, the Yellow Jackets blocked placekicker Noah Rehburg’s PAT. It was his first miss of the season. It was that kind of night.

Two more similarities to the Wylie-Coronado game?

Backup running back Carter VanZandt carried all seven snaps on a 37-yard touchdown drive that made it 52-13 after his 1-yard run. In fact, after Stephenville forced a punt, he ran twice more—nine straight clock-eating carries for 52 yards.

Backup quarterback Grayson Copeland kneeled the final two plays of the game, just as Wylie’s Jonah Holmes had done against the Mustangs.

Scrambling All Night

Wylie could not run on Stephenville. Laine carried only 11 times and gained 25 yards.

Martin attributed that to one Yellow Jackets player in particular, senior defensive lineman Kolton Dearth. A preseason all-state pick by Texas Football magazine, the 6-3, 315-pounder helped a veteran Stephenville defense take away Wylie’s running game.

Dearth during the summer committed to Army.

A bright spot for Wylie was the play of Karleskint. The junior was under attack all game but managed to complete 15 of 22 passes for 219 yards and two scores. Several times, either rolling out or being chased, he made his throw at the line of scrimmage. His 12-yard run was Wylie’s longest of the night.

“He was able to get out of the pocket and make some huge plays for us,” said Martin, who liked seeing his quarterback continue to look downfield to make a play while under duress. “Jadin’s getting better each week.”

Martin, however, would like his team to be more under control.

“It’s hard to live in that world,” he said. “That’s all Stephenville.”

Karleskint, too, credited the Yellow Jackets.

“They do what they do very well,” he said.

Ruffin caught his third TD pass and added a 59-yard gain for 105 total yards.

Karleskint’s counterpart, Jordan, was 18 of 27 for 280 yards. He hit his first 10 passes before a drop ended his streak. Unlike Karleskint, he was not rushed, largely due to throwing before Bulldogs defenders could pressure him.

“Great execution on their part,” Martin said. “They have great team speed but they played really fast. I think there is a difference in the two. They put a ton of pressure on you when you’re on offense. They took advantage of what we gave them.”

Stephenville had six rushes for 10-plus yards but none longer than 16 yards. The run game was effective if not flashy. McClendon totaled 79 yards on 13 rushes.

Martin said what went wrong in the loss would be studied as the Bulldogs prepare for district play with a 0-0 record.

“We’ll bounce back. We’ll go back to work. You learn a lot from film,” he said. “We’ll be ready to play next week.”

His junior quarterback echoed his coach.

“This shows where we need to go,” he said. “We’ve got to get better.”

Yardstick

Wylie – Stephenville

• First downs: 10 – 25

• Rushing: 35-44 – 33-169

• A-C-Int: 15-22-1 – 18-27-0

• Passing: 219 – 280

• Total offense: 263 – 449

• Punting: 4-31 – 1-36.0

• Fumbles/lost: 0-0 – 2-0

• Penalties: 5-45 – 2-20

Scoring

Wylie 0 7 6 0 – 13
Stephenville 21 10 14 7 – 52

First quarter

• SHS – Zyler McClendon 1 run (Rory McNeese kick), 5:21

• SHS – Briar Floyd 30 interception return (McNeese kick), 4:17

• SHS – Adan Jergins 22 pass from Trot Jordan (McNeese kick), 0:31

Second quarter

• Wylie – Blaze Ruffin 38 pass from Jadin Karleking (Noah Rehburg kick), 9:21

• SHS – McClendon 1 run (McNeese kick), 3:53

• SHS – McNeese 35 FG, 0:11

Third quarter

• SHS – McClendon 1 run (McNeese kick), 8:36

• Wylie – Jayden Naemi 15 pass from Karleskint (kick blocked), 5:37

• SHS – Jordan 5 run (McNeese kick), 1:38

Fourth quarter

• SHS – Carter VanZandt 1 run (McNeese kick), 5:14

Wylie Individual Stats

Rushing – Julius Laine, 11-25; Jadin Karlekint, 10-17; Rodrigo Jones, 23-6; Team, 1-minus 4.

Passing – Karleskint, 15-22-1-219.

Receiving – Blaze Ruffin, 3-105; Jayden Naemi, 2-57; Laine, 2-24; Wyatt Kidman, 4-20; Michael Pena-Perez, 1-10; Cooper Jones, 2-3.

District 2-5A Standings (Non-district)

Week 4 – District 2-5A

• Stephenville 52, Wylie 13

• Amarillo Palo Duro 35, Amarillo High 14

• Abilene Cooper 59, Lubbock Coronado 0

• Lubbock-Cooper 57, Frenship 56

• Plainview at Dumas 43, Plainview 35

• Randall 27, WF Legacy 0

• WF Memorial 70, Andrews 20

Week 5 – Start of District Schedule

• Wylie at Wichita Falls Legacy

• Wichita Falls Memorial at Abilene Cooper

• Plainview at Lubbock Cooper

• Palo Duro open