Cleburne builds up big first-half lead to turn away Weatherford, remains unbeaten
The Cleburne Yellow Jackets used big play after big play in a 48-31 win to spoil Weatherford’s homecoming Friday at Kangaroo Stadium.
Cleburne’s seven touchdowns came from an average distance of 48.7 yards, led by another dominant performance from senior Cleo Chandler, who rushed for 211 yards and three touchdowns on just 13 carries.
The Yellow Jackets (3-0) racked up 545 yards from scrimmage while holding Weatherford (1-2) to 297.
Cleburne built a 34-10 lead midway through the third quarter on a 50-yard TD run by quarterback Gunner Hammond, but Weatherford made things interesting as the Roos scored at the end of the third quarter, recovered an onside kick and then scored to open the fourth quarter.
Both scores came on passes from Major Youngblood to Melvin Polk from 27 and 30 yards as Weatherford pulled to within 34-24.
But less than 50 seconds later, Chandler got loose from 50 yards out to reclaim a three-score lead.
Weatherford responded with a methodical 10-play drive that ended on a 1-yard run by Brayden Polk to once again cut the deficit to 10 points at 41-31 with 7:23 left.
But the Kangaroo defense couldn’t get the stops it needed as Cleburne marched 70 yards down field and capped the scoring on a 34-yard pass from Hammond to Tyler Forsythe.
Chandler got the scoring started on a 34-yard TD run less than three minutes into action.
After a Weatherford punt, the Jackets went into their bag of tricks on second-and-20 as Hammond threw a lateral to Gavin Naquin, who threw to a wide open Jason Pugh for a 65-yard TD and a 14-0 Jacket lead with 3:30 left in the opening quarter.
On the extra point, Weatherford was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty, which moved the kickoff up 15 yards. Despite less room to work, that didn’t bother Weatherford’s Cisco Caston, who returned the kick 89 yards for a touchdown to give the Roos some life.
After the teams exchanged several empty possessions, Weatherford faced a fourth down from inside the Cleburne 20-yard line, but Jacket cornerback Braden Gunn batted down Youngblood’s pass to force a turnover on downs.
On the next play, Chandler had the biggest play of the night on a 76-yard TD run to put Cleburne up 21-7 with 3:10 left until halftime.
The Roos tacked on a 29-yard field goal by Tandy Miller with 56 seconds left in the first half.
Less than a minute into play in the second half, Hammond scored on a 32-yard run before later taking one in from 50 yards to build the biggest lead of the night at 34-10.
Hammond finished 17 of 23 passing for two touchdowns with 75 rushing yards and two scores.
Bork led Weatherford with 92 rushing yards and a score on 20 carries while Youngblood completed 17 of 32 passes for 177 yards and two TDs. Polk hauled in eight receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
Cleburne is set to kick off District 5-5A Division 2 play next week at Mansfield Timberview while Weatherford will open District 3-6A play with Hurst Bell.
This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 1:46 AM.