Bulldogs defeat Knox City in opener

JAYTON — Ira running back Boocker Brasuel credited his teammates for several big plays against the Knox City defense at Thursday’s Jayton Gridiron Classic.
He credited his blockers — linemen Eddie Ervin, Anthony Sosa and Brayden Corley and fullbacks Ramiro Rios and Emanuel Cabrera — in helping the Bulldogs claim a 68-41 victory.
Brasuel, who started in the backfield for the first time, rushed for 283 yards and scored five touchdowns.
“I could not have done any of that without my blockers,” he said. “It was not just one player, but the entire line and the fullbacks. I was gone once I got to the outside. That play was a big part of our game plan and it worked throughout the game.”
The Bulldogs took advantage of Knox City defenders crowding the line of scrimmage. Ira finished with 464 total yards, including 328 on the ground.
“We struggled on offense during the scrimmages,” Ira head coach Toby Goodwin said. “I’m happy, but not satisfied with how we played on offense. It was definitely a first game. The players showed grit, fight and character. We are not in good physical shape yet and most of the mistakes can be fixed.”
Goodwin said the Bulldogs worked on that play all week and it paid dividends.
“We got rewarded every time,” Goodwin said. “We took advantage of the way that they played on defense. When we broke a runner past the line of scrimmage, almost no player was back there.”
Hunter Cotton and Rios connected on touchdown passes of 44 and 38 yards to Sosa and Brayden Corley, respectively. Cotton completed 4-of-7 passes for 98 yards and one touchdown. Rios connected on 1-of-2 passes for 38 yards and one score.
“I didn’t expect to make that catch,” Sosa said on the touchdown during the fourth quarter. “I caught it on my fingertips. The defender deflected the ball and I dove to make the catch.”
“Anthony made a great catch after missing an easy catch a few plays earlier,” Goodwin said. “We hit a few deep passes when they were crowding the line of scrimmage.”
Knox City struck on big plays for three of its five scores — a fumble return and two kickoffs. Two short passes turned into scoring plays.
Goodwin said the defense has plenty of room for improvement.
“I told them that we can’t give points to a good team,” Goodwin said. “They returned a fumble and two kickoffs for touchdowns. We gave up big plays on missed defensive plays. But Knox City found out that they could not run the ball against us from the tight formation.”
The Greyhounds took the lead when Brady Hawkins scooped up a fumble and returned it 45 yards for the game’s first touchdown with 7:34 left in the first quarter.
Ira scored on its next two possessions to claim the lead. Brasuel had a 64-yard touchdown run and scored on a 20-yard run. Rios converted one of the two-point kicks to give Ira a 14-6 lead.
Knox City’s Samuel Schnable returned the ensuing kickoff 79 yards and a successful kick tied the game at 14-14.
The Bulldogs regained the lead before the end of the quarter. Ira converted on fourth-and-nine when Rios took the pitch and completed a 38-yard pass to Corley for the score. After Rios’ kick, Brasuel’s 26-yard scoring run on the next possession increased the Ira lead to 30-14 with 8:14 left in the first half.
Schnable capped a four-play, 47-yard drive to keep the Greyhounds close, but the Bulldogs weren’t finished. Brasuel broke free on a 43-yard touchdown run to give Ira a 38-21 halftime lead.
Ira maintained control for most of the third quarter. Rios and Sosa each ran for touchdowns to cap drives. Schnable kept Knox City in the game by returning a kickoff 75 yards for a score.
The Bulldogs led 54-27 going into the fourth quarter.
After Cotton’s touchdown pass to Sosa, Anthony Estrada completed touchdown passes of 52 and 64 yards to Christian Abila.
Brasuel’s 56-yard run with 2:44 left in the game wrapped up the scoring.

Knox City 14 7 6 14—41
Ira 22 16 16  14—68
 
  KC         IHS
First Downs 7 13
Total yards 300 464
Rushes-yards 41-104 50-328
Passing-yards  196 136
Comp-Att-Int 13-23-0 5-9-0
Punts  1-56 2-31.5
Fumbles-lost 2-1 4-2
Penalties-yards 6-40 3-20

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
Knox City — Brady Hawkins 45 fumble return (kick failed), 7:39
Ira — Boocker Brasuel 64 run (Ramiro Rios kick), 7:20
Ira — Boocker Brasuel 20 run (kick failed), 3:02
Knox City — Samuel Schnable 79 kickoff (Amando Torres kick), 2:47
Ira — Brayden Corley 38 pass from Rios (Rios kick), :51
Second Quarter
Ira — Boocker Brasuel 26 run (Rios kick), 8:14
Knox City — Schnable 1 run (Hawkins pass), 2:54
Ira — Brasuel 443 run (Rios kick), 1:08
Third Quarter
Ira — Rios 1 run (Rios kick), 7:00
Knox City — Schnable 75 kickoff (kick failed), 6:03
Ira — Anthony Sosa 5 run (Rios kick), :30
Fourth Quarter
Ira — Sosa 44 pass from Hunter Cotton (Rios kick), 9:15
Knox City — Christian Abila 52 pass from Anthony Estrada (kick failed), 8:10
Knox City — Abila 64 pass from Estrada (Torres kick), 5:11
Ira — Brasuel 56 run (kick failed), 2:44

Individual Statistics
RUSHING — Knox City, Anthony Estrada 8-76, Samuel 7-20, Zack Overmyer 2-8, Brady Hawkins 1-0. Ira, Boocker Brasuel 19-283, Ramiro Rios 14-39, Emanuel Cabrera 2-13, Anthony Sosa 1-5, Hunter Cotton 5-minus 12.
PASSING —  Knox City, Anthony Estrada 11-18-0 for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns; Christian Abila 2-5-0 for 19 yards. Ira, Hunter Cotton 4-7-0 for 98 yards and 1 touchdown; Ramiro Rios 1-2-0 for 38 yards and 1 touchdown.
RECEIVING —  Knox City, Brady Hawkins 5-39, Samuel Schnable 3-19, Christian Abila 2-116, Rustin Briseno 2-15, Anthony Estrada 1-7. Ira, Anthony Sosa 3-94, Brayden Corley 2-42.