College Park Cavaliers falter in Homecoming to Atascocita Eagles, 46-21

SHENANDOAH, Texas -- The College Park Cavaliers (1-4, 0-1) opened district play on homecoming night with a whimper against the Atascocita Eagles (5-0, 1-0), falling 46-21 at Woodforest Bank Stadium Friday night. The end result, while not desirable, didn't sully the night for College Park Head Coach Richard Carson.

“We started with a tough one,” said Carson. “I was proud of our kids, we fought back. They were hard to catch up on.”

The Eagles were led by running back Patrick Taylor Jr, who ran for 108 yards on 22 carries, and had two touchdowns. Quarterback Niyl Campbell threw for 167 yards and a score, and ran for additional 83 yards and a score. Wide receiver Quan Shorts caught a 72-yard touchdown, finishing the night as the leading receiver with 75 yards and that score. The Eagles racked up 385 yards of total offense, and didn’t have to punt the ball until 47 seconds left in the third quarter.

For the Cavaliers, A.J. Sanders led the way with 58 yards rushing and a touchdown. Dane Nichols and Dominic Garcia also had rushing touchdowns on the night. Quarterback Robert Ferguson threw for 68 yards and ran for another 30 yards. College Park ended the night with 241 yards of total offense.

To open the game, the Cavaliers won the toss and took the ball out to their 32-yard line on the kickoff. After a run for a yard, Ferguson attempted a pass that was tipped and intercepted by defensive back Dominique Harrison for the Eagles. He returned the ball down the sideline for the 36-yard score, giving the Eagles a quick 7-0 lead less than a minute into the contest.

On Atascocita’s first offensive possession, the ball was moving well between quarterback Campbell and his receivers. Quan Shorts caught a pass for a first down, and after a few runs created a third-and-long situation, wide receiver Tyvonne Thompson caught a 35-yard slant pass down the middle of the field, taking the ball to the College Park 14-yard line. After College Park’s defense stiffened, the Eagles ran a conservative run-option on third-and-17, setting up a 37-yard field goal attempt. The kick was made with ease by Caleb Bubel and the Eagles had marched out to a 10-0 lead with 5:41 left in the first quarter.

After a College Park interception returned 34 yards by free safety Aric Wilson, the Cavaliers were setup in good field position at the Eagle 40-yard line. A 3rd-and-8 run by Dominic Garcia went for 9 yards and set up a fresh set of downs at the Eagle 28-yard line as the first quarter closed. The drive stalled to start the second, and a 43-yard field goal attempt for College Park sailed wide right to keep the score 10-0 Atascocita with 11:04 left to play in the half.

The Eagles took the ball and wasted no time, hitting Shorts for a 72-yard screen pass down the sideline. Shorts galloped away from the field, creating more separation on the scoreboard, opening the lead to 17-0 Eagles with 10:15 left in the half.

With the Eagles seemingly in control, Campbell tried to squeeze a throw to the sideline that was nabbed for an interception by College Park linebacker Brenden Hall. This gave the ball to the Cavaliers on the Eagles 22-yard line. The first play after the turnover saw a quarterback keep for Ferguson that was good for 16 yards and a first down, just the second first down of the game for the Cavaliers. The next play saw fullback Dane Nichols go right up the middle for the final six yards, untouched, to get College Park on the board at 17-7 Eagles with 6:12 left in the half.

Atascocita seemed unphased by the setback, and took the ball from their own 32-yard line right down the field, highlighted by a Patrick Taylor Jr. run for 13 yards, breaking several tackles and getting the ball to the Cavalier 7-yard line. Taylor took the next handoff the rest of the way, getting back the points they gave up and making the score 24-7 Eagles with 1:49 left in the half.

The Eagles kicked off the scoring in the second half, going on a drive that lasted 3 minutes and 17 seconds that tallied 65 yards, ending with a 7-yard scamper by Campbell to the corner pylon to make the score 31-7 Eagles with 5:26 left in the third quarter.

The Cavaliers would not go silently into the night, and on their next possession they trekked down the field. A catch by tight end Christopher Barnes for 22 yards took the ball down to the Eagle 31-yard line, and two plays later tailback A.J. Sanders got loose to the outside for a 24-yard scoot to make the game 31-14 Eagles with 2:30 left in the third quarter.

The Cavaliers offense seemed to get a jolt from the score, and on their next possession they took the ball down the field again, highlighted by runs from Ferguson, Sanders and Dominic Garcia. With the ball down to the Eagle 7-yard line, Garcia went up the middle untouched to bring the score to 31-21 Eagles with 9:41 left in the game.

With the game tightening, the Eagles were determined to regain momentum. After back-to-back first downs, Atascocita had the ball down to the Cavalier 25-yard line. A quarterback sneak and two runs up the middle, the last for a yard by Taylor jr., punched the ball in for the Eagles and after a two-point conversion the game was back in their control, with the Eagles leading 39-21 with 7:50 left in the fourth.

As College Park attempted a final drive, Ferguson attempted a juke and lost the ball while going to the ground. The ball was recovered by Atascocita’s Andre Mickels Jr., and the 55-yard return went for the final score of the night, as the Eagles bested the Cavaliers by a score of 46-21.

“We aren’t going to turn on each other, we aren’t going to fight each other,” said Carson. “We’re going to pull together and fight, and that’s what we did. That’s what I’ll take away from it, and we’ll grow. We’re going to find a way to get better, I promise. We’ve got goals for this year. We’re still in control of ourselves and what happens.”

College Park is on a bye next week, returning in two weeks to take on The Woodlands on October 10th at Woodforest Bank Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Atascocita has a big contest against The Woodlands (4-1, 1-0) next Saturday, October 4th, at Woodforest Bank Stadium at 6 p.m.