The Cayuga football team went on the road Friday, and nearly upset a very good Mount Enterprise football team.

In the mind of CHS coach Greg Jenkins, his staff and his players, the Wildcats let what could have been a statement win get away.

“We fumbled on the three, we fumbled a punt and then we were driving down at the 25 and fumbled again,” Jenkins said, describing the Wildcats’ missed opportunities. “We’ve got to do a better job of securing the ball (because) we moved the ball all night long.”

Cayuga will look to bounce back from that loss Friday, when the Wildcats welcome in Wortham (1-1) to Scarborough Stadium in Bethel.

The Bulldogs put up 58 points in a win over Texas Christian Academy Friday.

“They’re in the old-school I-formation. We’re used to seeing the spread,” Jenkins said. “What they do is, when they run the I...it’s a back coming downhill with a fullback coming with him. It poses challenges for us to see how tough we are, how well we take on blocks, shed blocks and make tackles.”

Cayuga — at least offensively — is rolling heading into its third game. The Wildcats are averaging almost nine yards per play, and seem to have found a real leader under center in sophomore Chandler Rigdon.

So far in 2012, Rigdon has thrown for 337 yards and run for another 218, combing for seven touchdowns.

“You can’t run a spread offense without having a QB that can run and throw, in my opinion. To be honest, he’s been...I can’t even find the right word,” Jenkins said. “It’s almost unbelievable. We thought he could run the ball a little bit...but the way he’s reading on the run plays and the way he reads the secondary, truthfully for us its been unbelievable.”

What cost Cayuga against Mount Enterprise wasn’t the offensive production — Cayuga outgained the Wildcats 432-375 — but turnovers.

Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Scarborough Stadium (U.S. 287 North in Bethel).



ELKHART at Centerville

First-year Elkhart coach Sam Wells isn’t worried about his team’s production after the Elks’ 2-0 start, because the production is there.

What concerns Wells — and is a major key in why the Elks are 0-2 — is Elkhart can’t seem to get out of its own way.

“We just shoot ourselves in the foot with turnovers and also penalties,” said Wells, whose team turned the ball over five times in Friday’s 25-9 loss to Frankston. “When we have something good happen, a big play, then the next play we have a bad snap or a penalty or a turnover even, and that just kills everything.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the Elks, who hit the road for the first time this season when they travel to Centerville Friday to take on the Tigers (2-0). Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Centerville’s Tiger Stadium (600 S. Commerce St., Centerville, Texas 75833).

The Tigers make no secret about what they like to do, which is run the football. And they do it exceptionally well.

In Friday’s 70-22 win over ninth-ranked Mildred, Centerville ran for 378 yards.

“We’ve just got to reciprocate the physicalness up front,” Wells said. “Their offensive line is really good, for our level, so we’ve got to be super physical up front. On the back end, they don’t throw it much, but I think they’re 6-6 throwing on the year.”

As for the offense, Wells would like to keep the same level of production, just without all the miscues.

“Offensively, we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re moving the ball, we’re doing some good things,” he said. “We’ve got to get better throwing the football. The shooting ourselves in the foot offensively, that’s what we’ve got to improve on.”



FRANKSTON at Mildred

New Frankston football coach Matt Nally now has his first win, after beating Elkhart 25-9 Friday. Now, he and the Indians are gunning for No. 2.

It won’t be easy, however, as the Indians hit the road and travel to Mildred to face an Eagles’ team coming off of 70-22 beating at the hands of Centerville.

“They’re going to motivated. We can’t go in complacent, we can’t go in being satisfied,” Nally said. “We’ve only won one game and we can’t go in with the mentality that they’re going to lay down for us. We just can’t go in with overconfidence because they got beat, but they got beat by a pretty good team.”

The Indians will be facing what Nally calls “the best high school quarterback I’ve seen,” in Mildred’s Nic Shimonek, who is already committed to play football at Iowa.

The Mildred senior threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns in Friday’s loss, while also rushing for 67 yards, a team-high.

“He’s a very exceptional player and we’ve just got to do our job this week in the secondary,” Nally said. “He throws the football...the way I described it to the coaching staff is that he’s like Troy Aikman. He’s very poised in the pocket, to be a 17-year-old kid, to stand in the pocket and find the open receiver.”

Frankston will counter with its own offensive weapon, Caleb Williams.

The senior running back had a breakout game against Elkhart, rushing for more than 200 yards and two fourth quarter touchdowns that helped the Indians pull away late.

“Caleb is a phenomenal back in our mind,” Nally said. “Not just his speed, but his agility and his quickness, is just something for us that can be to our benefit. He’s got that ability that, if he can ever get to that second level, he can be exceptional.”

Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Mildred’s Eagle Stadium (5475 S. U.S. 287 North, Mildred, Texas 75109)



GRAPELAND at Lovelady

The Grapeland football team enters the season’s third week winless, and hopes to get win No. 1 in its annual rivalry game with Lovelady.

Grapeland fell to Trinity, 41-16, last Friday, on a night when the Sandies couldn’t get anything going offensively.

Grapeland only gained 112 yards of total offense in the loss, and the run-heavy Sandies were held to 14 yards on the ground.

The Lions enter the matchup at 1-1, coming off of a 12-6 loss at the hands of New Waverly Friday. Lovelady opened the season with a 44-14 win over Colmesneil.

Friday will be Lovelady’s first game at home of 2012, while it will be the Sandies’ second-straight road game.

Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Lions Stadium (Athletic Dr. at Barbee St., Lovelady, Texas 75851).

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Sports editor Justin Rains can be reached via email at jrains@palestineherald.com