No. 5 Legacy almost perfect in easy victory over Bonanza
Friday’s football game between Bonanza and Legacy was so one-sided that the Bengals even managed to get a penalty during halftime.
But the delay-of-game penalty for coming out of the locker room late was the least of Bonanza’s problems, as Legacy rolled to a 56-0 home win.
The Longhorns limited the Bengals to 51 yards of offense.
“We came out strong from the beginning,” said senior linebacker Josh Phillips, who had two tackles for loss. “I’d like to give it up to my line for getting good penetration. We came out physical and came out hitting.”
No. 5 Legacy (4-2, 1-1 Southwest League) needed four plays to amass more yards than the Bengals had all night. Devin Williams hit Damion Robinson-Stallings with a 49-yard TD pass on the fourth play from scrimmage, and the defense made sure that was more than enough.
“They were never able to get anything going,” Legacy coach Dave Snyder said. “We were a little worried at first because I didn’t know if they were ready to play. But they came out and shut them down.”
Bonanza managed five first downs and didn’t cross midfield. Though Legacy had only one sack, the Longhorns had Bengals quarterback Tyler Penkalski running for his life on most passing plays. He finished 6-for-17 for 39 yards.
“We’ve been able to do that every week for the most part,” Snyder said. “Our defense has been really solid. We’re really tough up front, and our linebacker corps has done a really good job.”
The Longhorns also got good penetration against the run, limiting Bonanza (3-3, 0-2) to 12 yards on 21 carries. Defensive tackles William Loyd (285 pounds) and Zach Lurgis (275 pounds) led the charge on the interior.
“We’ve got a couple big boys up front, and they’re penetrating pretty good, opening holes for our linebackers and filling the holes and whatnot,” Phillips said.
DeMichael Walker led the charge on offense, rushing for 116 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. Casey Hughes added 79 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.
Hughes also found himself wide open coming over the middle and caught a 30-yard TD pass from Williams that made it 35-0 with 8:40 left in the third quarter.
Williams finished 3-for-5 for 102 yards and the two scores.
“We’ve got to be able to throw the ball, so we were working on that,” Snyder said. “I think Devin’s really coming into himself and able to throw the ball pretty well. And obviously with the weapons, with Casey and DeMichael, those are pretty special kids.”
With Bonanza keying the run, Williams was able to use play action to find Robinson-Stallings wide open on the early touchdown.
“Play action always helps,” Snyder said. “They’ve got to stop the run. With those kinds of weapons, you’ve got to come up in the box and try to stop the run, and that opens it up for him.”
The Longhorns ran 45 plays, and 15 of them went for 10 or more yards. Eight of those went for 20 or more and four for 30 or more.
Snyder said he was pleased with the way his team responded after a 31-18 loss to top-ranked Bishop Gorman last week.
“There’s always a chance that you’d have a letdown after a game like that, but they came out ready to play,” Snyder said.
Added Phillips: “It’s great. We did our best against Gorman last week. And to come out here and get the ‘W’ on our homecoming night, it’s a great feeling.”