The Ropes Eagles had little trouble dispatching the visiting Smyer Bobcats 38-6 in the UIL District 2A-2 High School Football opening game last Friday.
Ropes racked up 289 yards on the ground against minus three for Smyer. Passing performance was closer with Ropes coming up with 255 yards against Smyer’s 207.
Ropes had two turnovers from fumbles while Smyer suffered three interceptions, including a pick six from Branson Simental in the fourth quarter, along with one lost fumble.
Smyer started with the ball on the 25 after Ropes’ opening kickoff went into the endzone. The Bobcats converted a third down and 12 with a 20-yard pass from Peyton Casillas to Rylan Smith.
Smyer found themselves at third down and 17 on the next series, but Casillas went to Cody Armes that time for 26 yards and a first down on the Ropes 21-yard line. A four-yard run by Armes, followed by a two-yard run by Casillas was negated on third down when Casillas was sacked back at the Ropes 21-yard line for a fourth down and 10.
Casillas went to Armes again for a 22-yard touchdown. The Bobcats were unsuccessful on the two-point attempt, but led 6-0 just four minutes into the game.
Ropes, however, answered quickly. Starting on their own 26yard line, the Eagles went downfield on three big pass plays. Quarterback Kade Franklin hit Kayden Riker, Reese Williams and Kolter Dockery in quick succession to set up a first and goal situation on the two-yard line.
Hayden Torres ran the ball in for the Ropes score at the 6:15 mark. The kick was good and the Eagles led 7-6. After trading fumbles on each team’s next possession, the Bobcats took over on their own 25- yard line. They struggled to get out of their own territory and were final forced to punt.
Ropes took over on their own 40-yard line and worked their way down to the Smyer 13-yard line, where Ropes had a first down and 10 with 11:45 left in the first half.
Torres got the call for three yards, then 10 more on his second try for the second Ropes touchdown and a 14-6 lead.
The Eagles forced Smyer to punt on the next possession, taking over on their own 19-yard line.
An offsides penalty against Smyer moved the ball to the Ropes 24-yard line where Torres took it all the way in for a 21-6 Ropes lead.
Smyer started their next drive with good field position on their own 38-yard line and managed to get down to the Ropes 32 before Bode Franklin intercepted a Casillas pass on the Ropes 21yard line.
The Eagles were able to get to their own 47-yard line before the drive stalled. Facing third down and 14 on their own 42-yard line, Kade Franklin unloaded to Dockery for a 58-yard touchdown and a 29-6 lead.
Ropes’ final score of the half was set up by another Eagle interception. Ropes took over on their own 33-yard line with 29 second on the clock. They got down to the Smyer 25-yard line, but had only seven seconds left in first half and decided to kick a 42-yard field goal.
Reese Williams’ kick was successful, allowing the Eagles to take a 32-6 lead into halftime.
The only score of the second half came at 8:32 in the fourth quarter when Simental picked off a Casillas pass and ran it all the way back for the score.
The Eagles travel to Morton on Friday while the Bobcats are in New Home. Both games start at 7 p.m.