A suffocating defensive outing set the tone as the Caddo Bruins ran away with a 58-0 season-opening gridiron thumping of Thackerville last week.
Coach Jeff Wigington’s club allowed just one first down and held the Wildcats to negative total yards in a contest that was decided well before the halftime mercy rule.
The Bruins will be on the road this week at Crossover Prep in Tulsa.
“Our defense just played outstanding,” Wigington stated. “Thackerville had a couple of injuries and was a little shorthanded coming in. Our kids went out and executed and took care of business from the start. It was a good game one. We got out of it healthy, which is the main thing. We had a few guys battling sickness during the week and didn’t get much practice time, but they got out there and played well. Everybody we had suited up was able to get a lot of action.
“I thought we were pretty efficient overall in our limited offensive chances. We wanted to establish the run and did that. We executed the game plan and all our starting skill guys scored. I was really happy to see how Noah Carvell came in and performed. He’s our back up running back and came in and had a great game. It’s good to have someone that can step in that spot if you need it.”
Caddo raced out of the gate and never looked back in the opener, taking advantage of short fields provided by its defense with the ball constantly in Thackerville territory.
The Bruin offense tallied 284 yards of total offense in scoring 27 first quarter points and another 31 points in the second stanza.
Standout senior quarterback Cale Wigington only needed to throw the ball five times and completed four of those for 98 yards and a touchdown. Jake McKay caught two of those for 53 yards with Noah Bacon adding one grab for 35 yards and Noah Dry the other for 10 yards.
Wigington led the ground attack with 92 yards on just four totes, three of which went for scores. Carvell carried twice for 68 yards with a touchdown and also a two-point conversion with Bayler Black adding 23 yards on three attempts. He chipped in two scores as well.
Dry also found the end zone when he blocked and recovered a Thackerville punt deep in Wildcat territory.
On the defensive side, Dry also led the charge with 10 tackles with Black contributing eight stops and a fumble recovery.
Jace Counce tallied seven tackles and caused a pair of fumbles. Dillon Speers added five tackles with four each from Blayden Brown, McKay, Teryn Spicer and Tipton.
Coach Wigington knows the Bruins will face a different test this week on the road with a Crossover Prep club that wants to throw the ball in the matchup at O’Brien Park.
“It’s our first road trip so we are looking forward to seeing how the kids react,” Wigington added. “We don’t know a whole bunch about Crossover Prep, but they like to spread it out and throw it a lot. They have skill guys everywhere, so we are going to have to get lined up correctly.”
