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Broncos clobber CNE, 39-0

Wednesday, 03 September 2008

Photo: Western Brown's Dane Boggs pulls down a 30-yard pass from quarterback Travis Taylor during Friday's win over Clermont Northeastern.

By WADE LINVILLE
Sports editor, The News Democrat

The Western Brown Broncos continued to dominate on the gridiron in week two of high school football action, routing the Clermont Northeastern Rockets for a 39-0 victory Friday night at Kibler Stadium.

The Broncos are now 2-0 for the season with wins over Hillsboro and CNE, and are now one game closer in their quest for a Southern Buckeye Athletic/Academic Conference crown.
Despite the two, big early season wins, Western Brown head football coach Don Sizer said there’s still room for much improvement as the season carries on.
“We’ve improved in a lot of areas, but there are still other areas we have to improve on, as well,” Sizer said after Friday’s win. “We just have to keep getting better every day in practice and every week (at game time).”
The Broncos dominated on both sides of the ball, giving up only 49 yards to the Rockets while racking up 434 offensively.
Gathering 145 yards on the ground behind gutsy blocking from the Broncos’ offensive lineman was senior running back Shawn Davis. Davis took 17 carries for three of the Broncos’ six touchdowns in Friday’s win.
Western Brown senior Clayton Sapp took only two carries Friday night, but racked up 77 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
Western Brown senior Ryan Berry took a 37 yard pass from Travis Taylor for another Bronco touchdown.
With exceptional running by the Bronco backs, one must give credit to the Bronco’s offensive linemen who cleared the way for big runs.
On the defensive end, Western Brown senior linebacker Ryan Hopkins led the way with 12 tackles.
Western Brown’s senior nose tackle, Hakeem Andrews, came through with 10 tackles in a solid performance Friday night.
Bronco linebacker Robbie Evans racked up eight tackles and recovered one fumble in the win over CNE, and Davis aided the Bronco defense with eight tackles, as well.
Western Brown senior quarterback Travis Taylor had his best night in the air so far this season, completing four of nine passes for 124 yards and a touchdown.
Senior Bronco Brandon Gregory took caught two passes for 57 yards receiving in Friday’s win, but it was a 30-yard pass completion from Taylor to junior tight end Dane Boggs that got the Broncos hyped early in the battle against CNE.
In their first possession of the night, the Broncos trucked down the field 68 yards to finish with a 19 yard touchdown run by Sapp, giving the Broncos a 6-0 lead with 9:05 to go in the first quarter.
After holding the Rocket offense to just six yards to force CNE to punt on a fourth down and four to go situation, the Broncos traveled from their own 45 yard line to drive 55 yards and end their second set of drives with a five yard touchdown run by Davis with 4:36 to go in the first quarter. The Broncos struggled to knock down extra point attempts in the first quarter, missing the first attempt at the kick and failing to come through on a two-point conversion attempt after the second touchdown.
With one quarter in the books, the Broncos held a 12-0 lead.
The Broncos drove 75 yards down the field to finish with a seven yard touchdown run by Davis at the 5:08 mark in the second quarter to give the Broncos an 18-0 lead.
With under five minutes to go in the second quarter, Evans recovered a fumble at the Rockets’ 40 yard line, putting the Broncos in line for another score. It took only a few plays for the Broncos to grab another touchdown off a pass by Taylor that Berry took for a 37 yard touchdown at the 2:27 mark in the second frame. Davis knocked down the kick for the extra point, and the Broncos held a 25-0 lead at halftime.
The Rockets took the kick-off to start the second half, but was held to just 17 yards by the study Bronco defense before punting on a fourth down and seven to go situation. It took only three plays for the Broncos’ offense to journey from the Western Brown 24 yard line and finish with a 58 yard touchdown run by Sapp, putting Western Brown on top 32-0 after making good on the kick for the point after with 7:46 to go in the third quarter.
The Broncos backed off a bit in the fourth quarter, allowing some junior varsity and freshmen players get some varsity experience. But the Broncos coaching staff didn’t look to the underclassmen before Davis ran for a nine yard touchdown with 10:59 to go in the final frame.
Sizer was proud of this team’s effort in Friday’s win.
“They really had a good attitude this week,” Sizer said of his team. “It was a pretty rough game last week (against Hillsboro). It took a few days for to get geared back up, but they did a great job.”
The Broncos are back in action this Friday at Blanchester, where they will take on the Blanchester Wildcats in this year’s battle for the SBAAC American Division title. The Wildcats suffered a 14-0 loss to Reading on Friday and fell to Clinton-Massie 49-0 in the season opener. Friday’s bout against Western Brown will be the Wildcats first conference match-up of the 2008 season.
“They’re just a tough group. They’re not afraid to play anyone,” Sizer said of the Wildcats. “(They’ve played) two great football schools in Cincinnati. I don’t know if anybody would say ‘yeah, I want to play those two (Clinton-Massie and Reading) in the first two games, but Blanchester will, because they’re fearless and they’re well-coached. And they have a chance to beat anybody they play because of that. They’ll be ready for league play there’s no question. They’ll be ready for us. They always are.”
The Broncos have a tough road ahead while facing teams in the SBAAC, a conference Sizer felt just keeps getting tougher every year.
“I’ve been in the league for a long time as a coach, and every year the league has gotten better and better,” said Sizer. “There used to be one or two schools that dominated. Now, at any given year, any of the teams can really come on and make a pitch for the league championship.”