It was one whale of an offensive night when the Dripping Springs Tigers took to the road to play Harker Heights in Killeen. The two teams showcased some very skilled talent on the offenses and they would prove problems to both defenses as they totaled 995 yards of offense. Most was created through the air. Air controllers were needed to keep up with the 68 passes hurled during the night. 51 of which found friendly hands. The Tigers would finally gain the lead in the second quarter but the Knights would keep charging to keep the Tigers nervous until the final play allowed the clock to run out with the 41-38 victory to give them a 2-1 record on the young season.
The first quarter was spent sparring. Finally Harker Heights would strike paydirt on a 33 pass play. Cash Brunson would penetrate to block the extra point and the score remained 6-0 at the end of the quarter. The second quarter kept the scorekeeper busy. With 9:59 left, Jack Tyndall would punch the ball in from the two. Aidan Burgess would make it 7-6. The Knights retaliated with a 41 FG. 9-7. Big runs by Tyndall and Jaceton Gotta put the ball on the two. After a penalty Maddox Maher hit Cooper Reid from the seven to regain the lead for good at 14-9.
Dylan Brasher would pounce on a Knight fumble and Tyndall stretched the lead to 21-9 with a 9 run. Harker kept the pressure on with a passing TD to make it 21-16 with 29 seconds left. Tigers do not need two-minute drills. 29 enough. Maher covered the 65 yards with four consecutive sideline passes. The final was a 27 TD to Reid, who broke a tackle and raced to the endzone. 28-16.
Harker took the second half KO and marched down for a score. 28-23. On the first play of the fourth quarter Maher hit Nick Tyndall and he broke loose for an 80 TD. EP missed 34--23. No quit in Harker. They had a long drive for a score and went for two. 34-31. A Maher to Merrik Bloomgren for 20 made it 41-31. With 2.10 left Harker scored to make it 4138. The Tigers were able to hold onto the ball for the win.
The Tigers will return to Tiger Stadium Friday night to take on Hays Johnson Jaguars, a rivalry game. Kickoff is at 7:30PM.
Team stats (DS first): First downs 26-27; Rushing 36217, 35-124; Passing 302-352; Passes 2033-1, 31-35-0; Punts 3-41.3, 4-46.3; Penalties 4-45, 8-45.
Tiger stats: Rushing: J. Tyndall 23-133 2TD; Gotta 7-74; N Tyndall 3-12. Passing: Maher 20-33-1 4TD. Receiving: Reid 11137 2TD; Bloomgren 5-53 TD; N. Tyndall 3-97 TD; J. Tyndall 1-15. KOR: Tristan Felder 2-77; Gotta 1-24.
Tiger tackling: Brasher 8-5, Case Hubbard 6-0, Miles Kennedy 5-2, Chris Gustafson 5-2, Clive Wahl 4-2, Austin Olivas 4-1, Gavin Badger 4-1, Kyle Daniel 3-2, Malachi Igharo 3-2.
