Arlington Bowie coach misses game as Volunteers win for him in district opener vs. SGP
Danny DeArman has been under the headset for many of Arlington Bowie’s wins during the better part of the past decade, but Thursday night marked a rare miss by the Volunteers’ head coach.
DeArman had to attend a family matter this week, but his football team came up with a big win for him. Bowie forced three turnovers and quarterback Drevonn Ponder accounted for three scores as the Vols beat South Grand Prairie, 28-14, in a District 8-6A opener at Wilemon Field.
Bowie improves to 3-0 for the first time since 2016 and 1-0 in district.
“Whenever your leader isn’t here, you can feel the difference,” said offensive coordinator Nate Van Cleave, who was acting head coach Thursday night. “We still tried to keep the routine this week the same like we always have. We’re just glad we came out here and got the win.”
Tied at 7 during intermission, disaster struck on Bowie’s first drive of the third quarter when the Vols lost 23 yards on a fumble and SGP recovered at the 4.
But the Warriors (2-1, 0-1) committed their third fumble and Bowie got it back at the 1. The Vols created some space, but were forced to punt and SGP was given great field position at its own 44.
Two plays later, Troy Whitaker took a hand-off and rushed in a score from 56 yards to give the Warriors a 14-7 lead with 5:29 left in the third quarter.
Bowie responded with a 10-play, 67-yard drive. Ponder punched it in from the 1 to tie the game at 14 late in the period. Ponder hit Trint Scott for 28 yards and Kameron Sanders picked up 29 yards on back-to-back carries to set up the score.
The Vols lost a fumble on their next drive, but SGP punted into the wind after Tre Martin made a nice open-field tackle on a third-and-four pass.
Two plays later, Ponder connected with Scott for a 30-yard TD to give Bowie its first lead at 20-14 with 7:14 to play.
“It was halftime. That talk. 0-0,” Martin said. “That’s what the coaches told us the whole time and just to come out here and do what we do.”
Bowie’s defense forced another punt that only traveled six yards and the Vols went with a trick play as Scott took a toss from Ponder before throwing a 29-yard TD to Josh Kelley. The Vols got the 2-point conversion and led 28-14 with 4:59 left.
“This was an important win. We needed this,” Martin said.
After a scoreless first quarter, SGP running back Javarius Crawford went 15 yards untouched for the touchdown and 7-0 lead with 10:39 in the second quarter.
On SGP’s ensuing possession, the Warriors crossed midfield, but lost their second fumble. The Volunteers responded when Ponder took a keeper up the middle for a 53-yard TD to tie the game with 3:34 to go in the half.
“Feels really good starting district with a win,” Ponder said. “Defense really drives the team. Once the defense gets going, it fires up the offense and it’s game over after that.
“We come out here and play for [coach DeArman].”
Ponder passed for 164 yards and rushed for another 95. Scott caught five passes for 108 yards and a TD and added the passing TD to Kelley. Bowie out-gained SGP 318-252.
Sanders added 68 yards rushing on 16 carries.
Bowie will travel to Lamar Oct. 23 while SGP looks to bounce back against Martin at the Gopher-Warrior Bowl.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 10:45 PM.
